Press Release 23/04/2024

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. March 2024

The number of visitors rose by 12.7% in rural accommodation and 49.1% in tourist apartments in the Basque Country in March 2024

Tourist hostels also recorded a 35.6% increase in visitor numbers

In rural accommodation in the Basque Country in March 2024, visitor numbers rose by 12.7% compared to the same month of the previous year, and overnight stays increased by 42.0%. With this year-on-year growth, in March 2024 the number of visitors was 12,199 and the number of overnight stays reached 31,415. It should be borne in mind that this year March includes the four days of Easter.

After rising by 71.1% in relation to March the previous year, visitors from abroad accounted for 14.1% of the total number of visitors in March 2024 in rural accommodation in the Basque Country. As regards overnight stays, those by visitors from abroad represented 13.0% of the total, an increase of 73.7% compared to March 2023.

By province, the year-on-year increases in visitor numbers in March 2024 reached 43.0% in Bizkaia and 38.7% in Álava, but this decreased by 6.2% in Gipuzkoa. Regarding overnight stays, they increased by 69.3% in Álava, 57.4% in Bizkaia and 27.4% in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 2.58 days in March, a figure higher than the 2.04 days of average length of stay observed in the same month of 2023. The average length of stay refers to the number of days that, on average, travellers remain in each of the establishments where they stay overnight, and not the total length of their stay in the Basque Country.

Bed and room occupancy rates experienced a year-on-year increase of 6.6 and 7.5 percentage points, respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 25.1% and that of rooms at 29.3%.

In relation to tourist apartments, in March 2024 there was a total of 15,714 visitors, giving rise to 54,189 overnight stays. Compared to March 2023, there was an increase of 49.1% in the case of visitor numbers and 37.1% in that of overnight stays.

Each of the accommodation units offered under a business operating unit, managed under the block or combined mode, is referred to as a tourist apartment. Private dwellings offered, marketed or temporarily relinquished for reasons of tourism are not included under the heading of dwellings for tourism use.

Visitors from abroad accounted for 25.7% of the total number of visitors and 31.1% of the total number of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, after registering year-on-year increases of 79.2% and 41.6%, respectively, during March 2024.

The average length of stay in tourist apartments was 3.45 days in March 2024, below that obtained in March 2023, which stood at 3.75 days in the Basque Country as a whole. The average length of stay in this type of establishment was 5.25 days in Gipuzkoa, 10.89 days in Álava and 2.20 days in Bizkaia.

The bed occupancy rate at the Basque Country level reached 36.4%, following an increase of 7.4 percentage points in relation to March 2023. In turn, the apartment occupancy rate showed an increase of 10.0 percentage points to stand at 63.9%.

In respect of tourist hostels in the Basque Country, in March 2024 there was a year-on-year increase of 35.6% in visitor numbers, reaching a total of 18,377 visitors who generated a total of 32,592 overnight stays. 20,447 overnight stays were registered in Bizkaia, 11,693 in Gipuzkoa and lastly, the number of overnight stays in Álava was 452.

The average length of stay in this type of accommodation in March 2024 was 1.77 days in the Basque Country as a whole and the bed occupancy rate reached 32.2%, after a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percentage points.

Easter 2024

In rural accommodation over the Easter period, from Thursday to Sunday (4 nights), visitor numbers fell by 7.8% and overnight stays were down 1.9%, compared to 2023 (when Easter was in April), in the Basque Country as a whole.

Performance at the provincial level varied. Álava registered increases in both the number of visitors and the number of overnight stays, standing at 17.4% and 8.3% respectively. In Bizkaia, however, visitor numbers fell by 15.7% in comparison with Easter 2023, and overnight stays decreased by 4.0%. Finally, in Gipuzkoa, visitor numbers were down by 9.1% and overnight stays fell by 4.7%.

The bed occupancy rate stood at 62.8% and that of rooms at 68.7% in the Basque Country during Easter 2024. These figures are 2.5 percentage points lower than the previous year in the case of beds and 2.2 points higher in the case of rooms.

In the case of tourist apartments, the year-on-year variations in relation to Easter 2023 were 3.1% for visitor numbers and -0.8% for overnight stays.

Compared to Easter 2023, the number of visitors was down 53.6% in Álava, while in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia it increased by 21.9% and 7.1% respectively. In turn, the number of overnight stays was up 1.8% in Bizkaia, and down 9.4% in Álava and 0.3% in Gipuzkoa.

Occupancy rates were 54.2% in the case of beds and 79.2% in that of apartments. Compared to Easter 2023, these figures show a decrease of 4.2 points in the case of beds and 0.2 in that of apartments.

Note:

The response rate for the Survey on Tourist Establishments this month was 97.6% for Rural Accommodation, 90.0% for Tourist Apartments and 85.7% for Tourist 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