Press release 26/06/2020

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. TOURIST APARTMENTS AND OTHER TOURIST ACCOMMODATION. MAY 2020

Hotels, rural accommodation and tourist apartments began a limited return to activity during May 2020 in the Basque Country

The number of establishments with some activity in May rose to 400, as compared to109 in April, giving rise to a total of 42,919 overnight stays

Order SND/399/2020, of 9 May, established the restrictions and conditions under which hotels and tourist establishments that had to suspend their activity by virtue of Order SND/257/2020, of 19 March, may proceed to reopen to the public. Since then, there has been a gradual reopening of establishments.

Accordingly, the number of establishments with some form of activity in the Basque Country as a whole in May 2020 rose to 400. In April, when the activity of the sector was practically limited to providing accommodation to essential personal or due to force majeure, only 109 establishments had some form of activity. However, the reopening of the sector has been very limited, given that the number of establishments with activity in May 2019 rose to 1,022. In effect, 745 tourist establishments remained closed during May 2020 compared to the 97 that closed for differing reasons in May last year.

This slow start has had a similar impact on the sector in the provinces: 63 establishments registered activity in Álava in May (there were 15 in April); 148 in Bizkaia (compared to 48 the previous month); and 189 in Gipuzkoa (46 registered activity in April). A year previously, May 2019, 181 establishments registered activity in Álava, 357 in Bizkaia and 484 in Gipuzkoa.

As regards the visitors and overnight stays observed in May 2020, any comparison made with the figures from the same month of 2019 shows the enormous effect of the COVID19 crisis on the tourism sector in the Basque Country. Visitors in May 2020 totalled 9,714, resulting in a total of 42,919 overnight stays, compared to the 318,266 visitors and 634,258 overnight stays in the same month of the previous year.

Compared to April 2020, there was a significant increase in visitors and overnight stays, given that this month visitors and overnight stays reached minimums of 2,273 and 21,381, respectively.

By province, there were 2,082 visitors in May compared to the 702 registered in April, resulting in 10,692 overnight stays, whereas in April there were 6,985. In Bizkaia visitor numbers rose from 614 in April to 3,321 in May and overnight stays in the same period increased from 6,717 to 15,815. Finally, in Gipuzkoa there were 4,311 visitors in May compared to 957 the preceding month and overnight stays rose from 7,679 in April to 16,412 in May. All these figures are a long way off from those registered in May 2019, evidencing the enormous impact that the exceptional measures adopted have had on the tourist sector in the three provinces.

Tourist apartments

In the case of tourist apartments, 45 establishments registered some form of activity at some point in May, compared to the 79 that were open in May 2019. By contrast, a total of 55 establishments remained closed during the entire period when in the same month of 2019 only 5 apartments closed. In respect of April, establishments registering activity have practically doubled (22 the preceding month) and the number of closed establishments, 78 in April, reduced considerably.

The rhythm of reopening establishments was similar in all three provinces. Álava went from having 6 establishments registering activity in April to 13 in May; Bizkaia went from 8 to stand at 14; and in Gipuzkoa there 18 open establishments in May when in April there were 8.

The number of visitors registered in tourist apartments in the Basque Country as a whole stood at 954 for the entire month of May, whereas in the same month of 2019 this figure reached a level of 7,523. In the preceding month, April 2020, there were 576 fewer visitors. A similar evolution was observed in the number of overnight stays, with a significant improvement in respect of April (7,869 in May compared to 6,570 in April), but at a level far from that observed in May 2019, when overnight stays stood at 26,548.

By province, Álava recorded 183 visitors and 3,080 overnight stays, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa 546 visitors and 2,730 overnight stays and Gipuzkoa 225 visitors and 2,059 overnight stays.

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 foundations for gradual limited opening.

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.

For this reason, dissemination in May will be limited, for the time being, to this press release. The remaining products in this operation will be disseminated when they.

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