Press Release 22/07/2025

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. June 2025

Stays in rural accommodation increased by 19.6%, and tourist apartments by 27.3%, but decreased in tourist hostels by 12.5% in the Basque Country in June 2025

The cumulative balance leading up to June 2025 showed positive values in visitor numbers at the three types of establishments

In June 2025, visitor numbers in rural accommodation in the Basque Country rose by 19.0% compared to the same month in the previous year and overnight stays increased by 19.6%, according to data prepared by Eustat. With these year-on-year variations, in June the number of visitors reached 20,190 and the number of overnight stays stood at 47,001.

After rising by 16.7% in relation to June of the previous year, visitors from abroad accounted for 33.7% of the total number of visitors in rural accommodation in the Basque Country. As regards overnight stays, those by visitors from abroad represented 32.7% of the total, following an increase of 17.2% compared to June 2024.

By province, the year-on-year increases in visitor numbers in June 2025 reached 23.3% in Bizkaia, 19.9% in Álava and 16.1% in Gipuzkoa. Regarding overnight stays, these increased by 29.8% in Gipuzkoa, 14.9% in Álava and 7.2% in Bizkaia.

The average length of stay(1) in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 2.33 days during June, a figure slightly higher than the average length of stay of 2.32 days observed in the same month of 2024.

Bed and room occupancy rates experienced a year-on-year increase of 6.0 and 6.5 percentage points respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 35.5% and that of rooms at 43.0%.

As regards tourist apartments, in June 2025 there were a total of 28,597 visitors, resulting in 75,458 overnight stays. Compared to June of the previous year, there was a 57.4% increase in the case of visitor numbers and 27.3% 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 41.9% of the total number of visitors and 43.5% of the total number of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, after registering year-on-year increases of 59.4% and 34.0%, respectively, during June 2025.

The average length of stay in tourist apartments was 2.64 days in June 2025, below that obtained in June 2024, which stood at 3.26 days for the Basque Country as a whole. The average length of stay in this type of establishment was 10.47 days in Álava, 3.55 days in Gipuzkoa and 1.94 days in Bizkaia.

The bed occupancy rate reached 41.9% after a loss of 1.5 percentage points compared to June 2024 in the Basque Country. The apartment occupancy rate increased by 7.0 percentage points to stand at 76.3%.

In respect of tourist hostels in the Basque Country, in June 2025 there was a year-on-year decrease of 9.8% in visitor numbers, reaching a total of 23,194 visitors who generated a total of 44,160 overnight stays. 21,505 overnight stays were registered in Bizkaia, 22,024 in Gipuzkoa and lastly, in Álava, the number of overnight stays was 631.

The average length of stay in this type of accommodation was 1.90 days in the Basque Country as a whole and the bed occupancy rate hit 41.2%, after a year-on-year decrease of 8.5 percentage points.

Accumulated data (January - June 2025)

Cumulative visitor numbers for 2025 to date at rural accommodation in the Basque Country stand at 75,433 visitors, resulting in 167,865 overnight stays; 7.5% and 7.1% higher than the figures for the same period in 2024. The average stay was 2.23 days, identical to that of the previous year. As regards the bed occupancy rate, it stood at 23.9% compared to 21.8% in the comparative period of 2024. The room occupancy rate was also over 26.2% in 2024, standing at 28.8% in the first six months of 2025.

In relation to tourist apartments, the cumulative total for June was 121,848 visitors, resulting in 363,862 overnight stays. This represents an increase of 38.3% in visitors and 18.0% in overnight stays compared to the first half of 2024. The average stay was 2.99 days in the first six months of 2025, compared to 3.50 in the same period in 2024. The occupancy rate reached 36.3% for beds and 66.8% for rooms, 0.6 and 2.8 percentage points higher than the same period of 2024.

As for tourist hostels, in 2025 so far, they have accumulated 112,868 visits and 199,136 overnight stays, which is 2.6% more visits and 1.5% fewer overnight stays compared with the same six months of 2024. The average stay was 1.76 days, down from 1.84 days the previous year. The bed occupancy rate was 34.3%, down 1 percentage point on the 35.3% recorded in the first six months of 2024.

Note:

The response rate for the Survey on Tourist Establishments this month was 92.4% for Rural Accommodation, 85.0% for Tourist Apartments and 89.0% for Tourist Hostels. Eustat would like to thank all establishments that participated in this survey for their effort.

(1) 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

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