Press Release 24/01/2024

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. December 2023

In 2023, the number of visitors in rural accommodation in the Basque Country was 2.3% higher than in 2022 and in tourist apartments it was up 24.7%

The year-on-year increase in the number of overnight stays by people from abroad reached 16.4% for rural accommodation and 26.5% for tourist apartments

In 2023, rural accommodation in the Basque Country saw a slight improvement in occupancy variables compared to 2022, with an increase of 2.3% in the case of visitor numbers and 2.8% in that of overnight stays. Thus, the number of visitors in rural accommodation in 2023 rose to 172,918 and there were 446,374 overnight stays, according to Eustat data.

In 2023, visitor numbers rose in both Álava and Gipuzkoa, with increases of 0.3% and 4.9%, respectively, while in Bizkaia the number of visitors was down 0.5% on the previous year. As regards the estimated number of overnight stays, all three provinces posted increases in 2023 compared to 2022. They were up 0.4% in Gipuzkoa, 3.9% in Bizkaia and 9.2% in Álava.

Foreign visitors accounted for 25.0% of total visitor numbers in this type of establishment in the Basque Country in 2023, following an increase of 18.5% in respect of 2022.

The average length of stay in rural accommodation in the Basque Country was 2.58 days in 2023, similar to the 2.57 days registered in 2022. Meanwhile, the occupancy rate stood at 28.9% in the case of beds and 32.8% in that of rooms, following increases of 1.6 and 1.5 percentage points, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The 2023 annual balance for tourist apartments in the Basque Country saw an improvement with regard to 2022, both in terms of the number of visitors and the number of overnight stays. With a total of 176,781 visitors and 627,157 overnight stays for the year as a whole, the year-on-year increases in relation to 2022 stood at 24.7% and 17.0%, respectively.

Both the number of visitors and overnight stays recorded in 2023 as a whole increased in respect of those recorded in 2022 in all three provinces, albeit to varying degrees. Total visitor numbers in tourist apartments rose by 13.9% in Álava, 20.4% in Bizkaia and 40.2% in Gipuzkoa. Meanwhile, growth in the number of overnight stays stood at 3.9% in Álava, 19.0% in Gipuzkoa and 20.5% in Bizkaia.

Following a rise of 36.7% over the course of the year, visitors from abroad accounted for 35.8% of the total number of visitors in this type of establishment in the Basque Country in 2023, above the 32.7% they represented in 2022.

In 2023, the bed occupancy rate surpassed that obtained in 2022 by 1.2 percentage points, while the apartment occupancy rate dropped by one percentage point, standing at 37.1% and 62.3%, respectively.

At the end of the first year in which data on tourist hostels in the Basque Country were published, the 2023 annual balance showed growth in relation to the previous year of 7.6% in the number of visitors and 6.3% in the number of overnight stays, with 222,174 visitors and 401,124 overnight stays in the year as a whole. The year-on-year increase in visitor numbers stood at 6.4% in Gipuzkoa, 7.1% in Bizkaia and 34.0% in Álava. Likewise, in 2023 as a whole, overnight stays rose by 5.1% in Gipuzkoa, 6.6% in Bizkaia and, lastly, 17.5% in Álava.

December 2023

In the last month of the year, December 2023, visitor numbers and overnight stays in rural accommodation in the Basque Country were down 11.8% and 9.2% compared to December of the previous year, standing at 11,546 and 25,704, respectively.

In December 2023, domestic visitors accounted for the majority of both visitors and overnight stays, representing 88.9% and 89.8% of the total, respectively.

In Álava, there were 3,243 visitors, 0.4% fewer than in December of the previous year; in Bizkaia, there were 3,201 visitors, following a drop of 3.0%; and in Gipuzkoa, the number of visitors in December was down 22.0% on December of the previous year, standing at 5,102.

Overnight stays performed differently, rising by 4.6% in Álava to reach 7,074 overnight stays, while in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa they fell by 17.6% and 11.2%, respectively, to 6,490 overnight stays in Bizkaia and 12,140 in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 2.23 days in December, slightly above the average of 2.16 days observed in the same month of 2022.

Bed and room occupancy rates experienced a year-on-year decrease of 1.1 and 2.4 percentage points, respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 21.0% and that of rooms at 23.9%.

As regards tourist apartments, in December 2023 visitor numbers and overnight stays totalled 11,534 and 47,046, respectively. In relation to December of the previous year, the number of visitors rose by 7.6% and overnight stays were up 3.6%.

The number of visitors from abroad represented 22.3% of the total number of visitors and 27.8% of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, following year-on-year increases of 21.7% and 10.0%, respectively.

The average length of stay was 4.08 days in December 2023, below that obtained in December 2022, which was 4.24 days. At provincial level, this figure stood at 2.28 days in Bizkaia, 6.93 days in Gipuzkoa and 10.59 days in Álava.

The bed occupancy rate at the Basque Country level was 31.8% and the apartment occupancy rate reached 58.3%. This represented a decrease of 1.3 percentage points in the case of bed occupancy and 1.2 percentage points in the case of apartment occupancy.

With regard to tourist hostels, in December 2023 visitor numbers and overnight stays totalled 8,884 and 16,203, respectively. Compared to the previous December, this meant a drop of 19.8% in the case of visitor numbers and 23.3% in that of overnight stays.

Note:

The response rate of the Survey on Tourist Establishments in December 2023 was 69.9% for Rural Accommodation, 79.05% for Tourist Apartments and 80.8% in the case of Hostels.

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