Press Release 22/05/2025

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. April 2025

Stays in rural accommodation increased by 26.2%, in tourist apartments by 64.4%, and in tourist hostels by 5.4% in the Basque Country in April 2025

The cumulative balance to April 2025 showed positive values in both visitor numbers and overnight stays at the three types of establishments

In April 2025, visitor numbers in rural accommodation in the Basque Country rose by 26.2% compared to the same month in the previous year and overnight stays increased by 32.1%. With this year-on-year growth, in April the number of visitors stood at 15,495 and the total number of overnight stays was 34,457. It is worth noting that April included the Easter holidays this year.

After rising by 30.0% in relation to April of the previous year, visitors from abroad accounted for 25.2% of the total number of visitors in April 2025 in rural accommodation in the Basque Country. Meanwhile, overnight stays by visitors from abroad represented 23.3% of the total, with an increase of 15.6% compared to April 2024.

By province, the year-on-year increases in visitor numbers in April 2025 stood at 45.0% in Bizkaia, 34.0% in Álava and 14.9% in Gipuzkoa. Regarding overnight stays, these increased by 55.2% in Álava, 43.6% in Bizkaia and 19.4% in Gipuzkoa.

The average length of stay in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 2.22 days in April, a figure higher than the 2.12 days of average length of stay observed in the same month of 2024. 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 7.2 and 6.8 percentage points respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 27.2% and that of rooms at 30.9%.

As regards tourist apartments, in April 2025 there were a total of 27,141 visitors, resulting in 70,740 overnight stays. Compared to April of the previous year, this represented an increase of 64.4% in visitor numbers and 31.2% in the case 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 36.2% of the total number of visitors and 37.5% of the total number of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, after registering year-on-year increases of 55.5% and 21.7%, respectively, during April 2025.

The average length of stay in tourist apartments was 2.61 days in April 2025, below that obtained in April 2024, which stood at 3.27 days for the Basque Country as a whole. The average length of stay in this type of establishment was 8.92 days in Álava, 3.86 days in Gipuzkoa and 1.86 days in Bizkaia.

At the Basque Country level, the bed occupancy rate stood at 41.0%, an increase of 4.2 percentage points compared to April 2024. In turn, the apartment occupancy rate showed an increase of 5.4 percentage points to stand at 70.2%.

In respect of tourist hostels in the Basque Country, in April 2025 there was a year-on-year increase of 5.4% in visitor numbers, reaching a total of 24,771 visitors who generated a total of 42,222 overnight stays. 24,293 overnight stays were registered in Bizkaia, 16,530 in Gipuzkoa and lastly, in Álava, the number of overnight stays was 1,399.

The average length of stay in this type of accommodation in April 2025 was 1.70 days in the Basque Country as a whole and the bed occupancy rate stood at 40.6%, with a year-on-year increase of 0.3 percentage points.

Easter 2025

In rural accommodation, this Easter (four nights from Thursday to Sunday), visitor numbers in the Basque Country as a whole increased by 16.4% compared to Easter 2024, which was in March, while overnight stays fell by 9.8%.

Performance at the provincial level varied. Álava registered increases in the number of both visitors and overnight stays, standing at 79.7% and 10.3% respectively. Gipuzkoa, by contrast, saw visitor numbers fall by 19.0% compared to Easter 2024 and overnight stays by 23.8%. In Bizkaia, visitor numbers decreased by 47.2% and overnight stays were down 1.2%.

The bed occupancy rate stood at 58.6% and that of rooms at 62.0% in the Basque Country during Easter 2025. These figures are 4.2 percentage points lower than the previous year in the case of beds and 6.7 points lower for rooms.

In the case of tourist apartments, the year-on-year increases in relation to Easter 2024 were 50.4% for visitor numbers and 24.4% for overnight stays.

Compared to Easter 2024, visitor numbers increased by 62.9% in Bizkaia, 42.2% in Álava, and 26.0% in Gipuzkoa. In turn, the number of overnight stays was up 39.9% in Bizkaia, 19.6% in Álava and 7.5% in Gipuzkoa.

Occupancy rates stood at 56.8% in the case of beds and 83.8% for apartments. Compared to Easter 2024, these figures are 2.6 points higher in the case of beds and 4.7 points in that of apartments.

As regards tourist hotels, the number of visitors received this Easter, 2025, was 38.1% higher than Easter last year; in turn, overnight stays were up 25.5%. In Álava, visitor numbers increased by 103.0%, while in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa they were up 36.3%. As regards overnight stays, they rose by 65.2%, 24.6% and 23.6% in Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, respectively.

Finally, the bed occupancy rate for Easter 2025 stood at 58.7% in the whole region (10.5 percentage points higher than the previous year), with occupancy of 68.0% in Bizkaia (up 13.3 points), 58.3% in Álava (up 26.3 points) and, lastly, 48.1% in Gipuzkoa (6.2 percentage points up on 2024).

Cumulative data (January-April 2025)

Cumulative visitor numbers for 2025 to date at rural accommodation in the Basque Country stand at 35,221 visitors, resulting in 77,673 overnight stays; 3.3% and 0.1% higher than the figures for the same period in 2024. The average stay was 2.21 days, compared to 2.27 the previous year. As regards the bed occupancy rate, it stood at 17.8% compared to 17.3% in the comparative period of 2024, while when measured by rooms it also exceeds the 20.6% of 2024, standing at 21.7% in the first four months of 2025.

In relation to tourist apartments, the cumulative total for April was 67,202 visitors, resulting in 216,712 overnight stays. This represents an increase of 34.3% in visitors and 16.8% in overnight stays compared to the first four months of 2024. The average stay was 3.22 days in the first four months of 2025, compared to 3.71 in the same period in 2024. The occupancy rate was 33.6% for beds and 61.7% for rooms, 2.3% and 1.6% higher than the equivalent period in 2024.

As regards tourist hotels, in 2025 to date they have registered a cumulative total of 58,701 visitors with 103,598 overnight stays, 5.8% and 0.8% above the figures for the same period in 2024. The average stay was 1.76 days, down from 1.85 days the previous year. The bed occupancy rate was 28.4%, up 0.4 percentage points on the 28.0% recorded in the first four months of 2024.

Note:

The response rate for the Survey on Tourist Establishments this month was 91.3% for Rural Accommodation, 83.4% for Tourist Apartments and 85.0% 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