Press Release 25/11/2021

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. October 2021.

The data on visitor numbers and overnight stays in rural accommodation and tourist apartments in the Basque Country in October 2021 were even better than those for 2019

Visitors from Spain underpinned the recovery

In October 2021 rural accommodation in the Basque Country registered a total of 15,684 visitors and 38,782 overnight stays, representing increases in respect of the same month of the previous year of 169.6% and 172.4%, respectively, according to Eustat data.

In respect of October 2019, at the Basque Country level, the increase in the number of visitors stood at 4.7% and that of overnight stays at 25.6%.

Spain was the origin of 87.8% of visitors and 90.3% of overnight stays in rural accommodation in the Basque Country, following year-on-year increases of 150% and 161.9%, respectively. Foreign visitors continued to increase in year-on-year terms, but still only represented 12.2% of total visitor numbers and 9.7% of total overnight stays.

By province, the year-on-year increases in visitor numbers were 338.6% in Álava, 172.7% in Bizkaia and 124.7% in Gipuzkoa. As regards overnight stays, the increases stood at 293.8% in Álava, 197.0% in Bizkaia and, finally, at 130.5% in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay in the Basque Country in this type of establishment was 2.47 days, a value close to the average length of stay of 2.45 days observed in October 2020 and slightly higher than in October 2019, when it was 2.06 days.

Both bed and room occupancy rates experiences year-on-year increase of 17.1 and 17.4 percentage points, respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 28.4% and that of rooms at 32.5%.

As regards tourist apartments, during October 2021 visitor numbers and overnight stays totalled 10,013 and 41,875, respectively. Compared to October of the previous year, the number of visitors increased by 156.1% and overnight stays were up 123.0%. Comparing these values with those obtained in October 2019, reveals increases of 24.4% in visitor numbers and 58.3% in overnight stays.

The majority of visitors continued to be from Spain, representing 75.1% of the total in the Basque Country as a whole. Overnight stays for people from Spain accounted for 70.6% of the total. Both variables showed very positive values in respect of October 2020, up 127.5% and 107.6%, respectively. Visitor numbers and overnight stays for people from abroad, despite having recovered strongly, represented 24.9% and 29.4% of total visitor numbers and overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country.

In October 2021 the average length of stay was 4.18 days, which was below the 4.80 days obtained in October 2020 and slightly above the 3.29 days registered in October 2019.

At provincial level, the average length of stay stood at 7.86 days in Álava and at 7.04 days in Gipuzkoa, whereas in Bizkaia it was 2.37 days.

The apartment occupancy rate at the Basque Country level reached 66.9%, representing an increase of 19.5 percentage points in relation to October 2020.

Informative note

The response rate of the Survey on Tourist Establishments in October was 97.1% for Rural Accommodation and 87.7% 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