Press release 22/07/2020
Hotel establishments in the Basque Country gradually recovered their activity during the month of June in 2020
372 establishments saw some hotel activity and 89,823 overnight stays were recorded in June 2020, almost triple those of May 2020
Following the end of the state of alarm on 21 June and with the limitations and prior conditions established via the order of 9 May (SDN/399/2020) for the reopening to the public of hotels and tourist establishments, the activity of this sector progressively increased during the month of June.
In this context, in the Basque Country as a whole, 372 establishments maintained some type of hotel activity throughout the month of June, with 246 establishments having remained closed the entire month. These figures, although a considerable improvement on those observed in May 2020, are still a long way from those registered in the same month of 2019, when there were 578 establishments with activity and 36 closed for various reasons.
By province, the trend is generalised, going in Álava from 20 establishments with activity in May to 46 in June; in Bizkaia this went from 80 establishments with some activity in May to 141 in June and, finally, in Gipuzkoa the number of establishments with activity in June was 185, when in May there were 88. In any case, these figures are clearly lower than those observed in June 2019, accounting for around two thirds of the establishments that were open the previous year when there were 68 establishments with activity in Álava, 221 in Bizkaia and 289 in Gipuzkoa.
As regards the visitors and overnight stays observed in June 2020, any comparison made with the figures from the same month of 2019 shows the prolongation of the effect of the COVID19 crisis on the hotel sector in the Basque Country. Visitors in June 2020 totalled 47,669, deriving 89,823 overnight stays, compared to the 298,247 visitors and 581,962 overnight stays in the same month of the previous year. The effect of the crisis this June compared to the same month of the previous year was very similar in the three provinces: in Álava visitors were down 78.3% and overnight stays by 76.4%, in Bizkaia these figures stood at 85.2% for visitors and 85.3% for overnight stays and in Gipuzkoa they were 84.5% and 86.0%, respectively.
Compared to May 2020, both visitors and overnight stays increased considerably, with the former going from 7,764 to 47,669 and the latter from 30,049 to 89,823. The revival of activity was observed in all three provinces. In Álava, the 1,790 visitors and 7,278 overnight stays registered in May 2020 increased to 8,151 visitors and 16,085 overnight stays in June. In Bizkaia, 2,448 visitors were observed in May compared to the 20,201 registered in June, with overnight stays rising from 11,486 to 38,406. Finally, in Gipuzkoa, visitors and overnight stays in June totalled 19,317 and 35,332, respectively, compared to the 3,526 and 11,285 observed in May.
74,998 visitors from within Spain were registered for the Basque Country as a whole, compared to 14,825 from abroad in June. Visitor numbers for those coming from abroad represented 15.6% of the total visitor numbers, whereas for the same month in 2019 this percentage rose to 48.1%.
This June the average length of stay was 1.88 days, below the average length of stay of 1.95 days registered in June 2019. In Álava there was an increase from 1.81 days last year to 1.97 days in June of this year; in Bizkaia there was practically no change, going from 1.91 days in June 2019 to 1.90 days in June 2020; in Gipuzkoa, for its part, the average length of stay fell from the 2.04 days obtained in June 2019 to the 1.83 days obtained this June.
There was a decrease of 39.9 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 63.1% in June 2019 to 23.1% in June this year. By province, bed occupancy rates stood, respectively, at 22.2%, 23.8% and 22.9% for Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, with decreases, in the same order, of 31, 36.4 and 47.1 percentage points.
Two thirds of rural accommodation establishments saw activity at some point in the month of June 2020
The effect of the COVID-19 crisis in rural accommodation was similar to that observed in hotels. Thus, the establishments that offered accommodation at some point in June totalled 285, compared to the 372 that were open in June 2019. While June 2019 saw 88.6% of rural establishments remain open, in June 2020 this figure stood at 66.6%. Conversely, a total of 143 establishments remained closed during the entire period, as opposed to the 48 that closed in June 2019.
However, as regards the previous month, May 2020, a notable increase in activity was observed, given that the number of establishments with activity in that month was 167, compared to the aforementioned 285 in June.
Visitor numbers to rural accommodation establishments: in the Basque Country stood at 5,063 in the month of June 2020. These data differ from the 16,035 visitors registered in June 2019, to which the impact of the preventive measures in force in June continued to dictate rural accommodation activity. Despite everything, the visitor numbers to rural establishments were considerably higher than the 996 observed in May 2020.
By province, Álava recorded 867 visitors and 2,837 overnight stays, Bizkaia 1,496 visitors and 4,620 overnight stays and Gipuzkoa 2,700 visitors and 7,390 overnight stays in June. These figures are far below those observed in June 2019, although they reveal the revival of activity in the three provinces.
NOTE REGARDING THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS ON THE SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS
Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declared a state of alarm in order to manage the health crisis caused by COVID-19. The exceptional measures adopted subsequently have had a direct impact on the usual activity of tourist establishments. The closure was practically total until the publication of Order SND/399/2020, of 9 May, establishing the conditions for gradual limited opening.
Following the end of the state of alarm on 21 June and with the limitations and prior conditions established via the order of 9 May (SDN/399/2020) for the reopening to the public of hotels and tourist establishments, the activity of this sector progressively increased during the month of June.
Due to this situation, obtaining the necessary information for compiling the Survey on Tourist Establishments required a greater degree of effort, by both the personnel dedicated to collecting and processing the information and, above all, the establishments surveyed.
Eustat would like to thank all the establishments that have collaborated in making this effort despite the extraordinary circumstances. As a result, it has been possible to disseminate this information, enabling the effects of the measures adopted on this sector to be quantified.
The distribution in June is once again the traditional type, incorporating the statistical tables and databank, although with the restrictions derived from statistical secrecy.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62