Press Release 23/10/2024

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. September 2024

Overnight stays in rural accommodation in the Basque Country fell by 1.5% in September 2024, and in tourist apartments they rose by 8%

During the three summer months, overnight stays were down 1.9% in rural accommodation, increasing by 11.6% in tourist apartments

Visitor numbers in rural accommodation in the Basque Country fell by 6.3% in September 2024 in respect of the same month of the previous year, while overnight stays dropped by 1.5%, according to Eustat data. With these year-on-year variations, in September the number of visitors reached 17,668 and the number of overnight stays stood at 44,462.

With a slight variation of 0.1% compared to the previous September, visitors from abroad accounted for 36.1% of the total number of visitors in Basque Country rural accommodation in September 2024. Meanwhile, as regards overnight stays, those by visitors from abroad represented 33.8% of the total, following an increase of 4.3% compared to September 2023.

By province, visitor numbers remained stable in Álava, while they were down 5.0% in Gipuzkoa and 10.8% in Bizkaia. Regarding overnight stays, these decreased by 9.9% in Álava and 7.4% in Bizkaia, while in Gipuzkoa they were up 4.6% in year-on-year terms.

The average length of stay in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 2.52 days in September 2024, above the 2.40 days average length of stay observed in the same month of the previous year. 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.

The bed occupancy rate was 1 tenth of a percentage point higher than that obtained in September 2023, standing at 33.1%. The room occupancy rate, however, saw a slight year-on-year increase of 2 percentage points, standing at 40.3% in September 2024.

In relation to tourist apartments, in September 2024 there was a total of 19,649 visitors, giving rise to 65,993 overnight stays. Comparing this data with that of the previous September, the increase reached 4.4% in the case of visitor numbers and 8.0% 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 41.6% of the total number of visitors and 41.7% of the total number of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, after registering year-on-year increases of 8.8% and 10.9% respectively during September.

The average length of stay in tourist apartments was 3.36 days in September 2024, below that obtained in September 2023, which stood at 3.25 days for the Basque Country as a whole. The average length of stay in this type of establishment was 8.27 days in Álava, 5.01 days in Gipuzkoa and 2.33 days in Bizkaia.

The bed occupancy rate at the Basque Country level reached 41.8% in September 2024, down 0.2 percentage points on that observed in September 2023. In contrast, the apartment occupancy rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to stand at 72.9%.

In respect of tourist hostels in the Basque Country, in September 2024 there was a year-on-year increase of 22.1% in visitor numbers, reaching a total of 24,891 visitors who generated 41,304 overnight stays. 20,152 overnight stays were registered in Bizkaia, 20,687 in Gipuzkoa and lastly, in Álava, the number of overnight stays in this type of accommodation was 466.

In September 2024, the average length of stay in tourist hostels was 1.66 days in the Basque Country as a whole and the bed occupancy rate, after a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percentage points, stood at 39.2%.

Balance for summer 2024

Overnight stays were down 1.9% in rural accommodation and increased by 11.6% in tourist apartments in the Basque Country during summer 2024

During the three summer months as a whole (July, August and September 2024), overnight stays in rural accommodation in the Basque Country decreased by 1.9% compared to summer of the previous year, while visitor numbers were down 3.0%.

At provincial level, overnight stays rose by 1.0% in Gipuzkoa, and fell by 7.5% in Bizkaia and 0.2% in Álava. Visitor numbers increased by 8.5% in Álava while they fell by 7.9% in Bizkaia and 3.2% in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay remained at 3.16 days, slightly exceeding the 3.13 days seen in summer 2023. It is worth highlighting that the average length of stay in Gipuzkoa was 3.38 days, followed by 3.04 days in Bizkaia and 2.74 days in Álava.

Occupancy rates in this type of accommodation for the Basque Country as a whole were 49.9% in the case of beds and 55.8% in that of rooms, a loss of 0.1 percentage points in the case of beds and an increase of 0.8 percentage points in the case of rooms.

With regard to tourist apartments in the Basque Country, the number of visitors rose to 78,015 during summer 2024, following an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous summer. Meanwhile, there were 242,657 overnight stays, 11.6% more than in summer 2023.

At the provincial level, it is worth mentioning the 22.0% increase in visitors in Gipuzkoa and the 10.2% rise in overnight stays. Bizkaia posted increases of 14.0% and 12.7% with respect to the same variables and, lastly, in Álava, there was a 32.9% drop in the number of visitors, combined with a 11.5% rise in overnight stays.

The average length of stay was 3.11 days for the three summer months of 2024 as a whole, compared to the 3.14 days observed in the same period of 2023.

The occupancy rate for the Basque Country as a whole in summer 2024 stood at 51.3% in terms of beds, with an increase of 2.0 percentage points in respect of 2023, and 71.4% in terms of apartments, a rise of 1.2 percentage points in year-on-year terms.

During the summer months of 2024, the number of visitors in tourist hostels in the Basque Country reached 96,519, which led to a total of 174,758 overnight stays. The increase in relation to the previous summer reached 18.1% in the case of visitor numbers and 15.1% in that of overnight stays.

Note:

The response rate for the Survey on Tourist Establishments this month was 95.2% for Rural Accommodation, 87.1% for Tourist Apartments and 83.5% 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