Press Release 25/05/2021

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. April 2021

In April 2021 in the Basque Country, overnight stays in rural accommodation rose by 66% and stays at tourist apartments were up by 8.5% compared to March

18.0% of rural accommodation and 13.5% of tourist apartments remained closed throughout the whole of April

In April 2021, there were a total of 6,278 visitors and 20,017 overnight stays in rural accommodation in the Basque Country, representing increases in respect of March 2021 of 15.4% and 66.0%, respectively, according to Eustat data.

Movement restrictions have been variable after the state of emergency was decreed on 14 March 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Because accommodation activity was reduced to healthcare and other essential staff in April 2020, most series were not published due to statistical secrecy safeguards and statistical quality criteria, meaning that no year-on-year comparisons can be drawn with April 2020. As a result, comparisons are made with March 2021.

The vast majority of people staying in rural accommodation in the Basque Country were from the rest of Spain. In April 2021, only 120 of them were foreign residents, compared to 6,158 from the rest of Spain. Compared to the previous month, March 2021, the number of visitors from the rest of Spain was up by 16.1% and the number of visitors from abroad was down by 11.1%. In the case of overnight stays, on the other hand, the number of people from the rest of Spain (up 66.3%) and from abroad (up 58.1%) both rose in month-on-month terms.

These figures reflect an increase in the average length of stay observed in April 2021, which was up to 3.19 days from 2.22 in the previous month. The average length of stay of foreign tourists in particular rose from 2.46 days in March 2021 to 4.38 days in April 2021.

The province that saw the largest increase was Bizkaia, with 72.3% more than in the previous month, followed by Álava, with a month-on-month upturn of 59.5%. In Gipuzkoa, on the other hand, visitor numbers were down by 17.8%. The number of overnight stays saw an upward trend in month-on-month terms in all three provinces: it was up 142.1% in Bizkaia, 92.1% in Álava and 32.0% in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay went from 2.39 days in March to 2.88 in April in Álava, from 2.11 to 2.97 days in Bizkaia and, lastly, from 2.20 days to 3.53 in Gipuzkoa.

The room occupancy rate stood at 19.4% in April following a 5.7 percentage point increase on the previous month. By province, the figures were similar: 19.8% in Bizkaia, 19.4% in Gipuzkoa and 18.8% in Álava. Likewise, following a month-on-month increase of 5.8 percentage points, the bed occupancy rate at rural accommodation in the Basque Country in April stood at 16.1%. It was down in Bizkaia by 16.7%, in Álava by 16.2% and in Gipuzkoa by 15.7%.

In April 2021, 18.0% of rural accommodation remained closed every day of the month, compared to 22.8% in March. The trend was similar in all three provinces: 16.8% of rural establishments were closed for the whole month of April in Álava, 17.6% in Gipuzkoa and, lastly, 19.5% in Bizkaia.

TOURIST APARTMENTS

As regards tourist apartments, the number of visitors and overnight stays totalled 4,114 and 22,552, respectively, in April 2021. Compared to the previous month, there was a 3.7% increase in visitor numbers and a 8.5% rise in overnight stays.

The number of visitors from within Spain was up 4.5%, while foreign visitor numbers were down 9.6% in month-on-month terms. In the case of overnight stays, there was an increase of 10.0% for visitors from within Spain and of 0.8% for those from abroad. In April, the average length of stay stood at 5.48 days, slightly above the 5.24 days observed in the previous month.

By province, the trends since March 2021 were uneven. While Gipuzkoa saw 13.9% increase in the number of visitors, in Bizkaia it was up 0.5%, while in Álava it was down by 5.1%. In Gipuzkoa and Álava, the total number of overnight stays recorded in April 2021 was 11.3% higher than the number observed in March, while Bizkaia posted a more moderate increase of 0.9%.

These figures show an uneven trend in the average length of stay at tourist apartments in the Basque Country: in Álava it went from 7.63 days in March to 8.96 days in April, in Bizkaia it remained practically unchanged (2.72 days in March and 2.73 days in April), while in Gipuzkoa, on the other hand, it fell from 8.09 days in March to 7.90 days in April.

In April 2021, the apartment occupancy rate in the Basque Country reached 44.6%. By province, it was up 53.9% in Álava, 47% in Gipuzkoa and 33.0% in Bizkaia. The bed occupancy rate was lower, at 21.5% for the Basque Country as a whole. By province, it was 26.7% in Gipuzkoa, 21.5% in Álava and, lastly, 15.5% in Bizkaia.

In the Basque Country as a whole, 13.5% of apartments remained closed every day in April 2021, 5 percentage points less than in the previous month. The proportion of apartments closed every day of the month stood at 16.7% in Álava (0.7 percentage points lower than in March), 16.4% in Gipuzkoa (4.8 percentage points lower than in March) and, lastly, 6.3% in Bizkaia (8.9 percentage points lower than the proportion observed in March).

Informative note

The response rate of the Survey on Tourist Establishments was 95.0% for Rural Accommodation and 88.3% for Tourist Apartments. Eustat would like to thank all establishments that participated in this survey for their effort.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: Tel: 945 01 75 62