Press Release 24/09/2025

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. Except hotels. August 2025

Overnight stays in August 2025 increased by 3.1% in rural accommodation in the Basque Country and were up 6.0% in tourist apartments and 18.4% in tourist hostels

The room occupancy rate reached 72.3% in rural accommodation and 83.4% in tourist apartments. Tourist hostels had a bed occupancy rate of 70.6%

Visitor numbers in rural accommodation in the Basque Country in August 2025 fell by 0.1% in respect of the same month of the previous year, while overnight stays increased by 3.1%, according to Eustat data. With these year-on-year variations, the number of visitors in August reached 25,454 and the number of overnight stays stood at a total of 97,553.

After rising by 10.6% in relation to August of the previous year, visitors from abroad accounted for 29.2% of the total number of visitors in rural accommodation in the Basque Country. As regards overnight stays, those by visitors from abroad represented 25.4% of the total, following an increase of 14.9% compared to August 2024.

By province, in August 2025 visitor numbers rose by 16.0% in Álava and 1.1% in Bizkaia, while in Gipuzkoa they were down 6.3%. In terms of overnight stays, they increased by 29.7% in Álava, and fell by 1.5% in Gipuzkoa and 1.3% in Bizkaia.

The average length of stay (1) in this type of establishment in the Basque Country was 3.83 days during August, higher than the average length of stay of 3.72 days observed in August 2024.

Bed and room occupancy rates experienced a year-on-year increase of 2.7 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively, the bed occupancy rate standing at 67.1% and that of rooms at 72.3%.

Regarding tourist apartments (2), in August 2025 there were a total of 36,532 visitors, resulting in 102,504 overnight stays. Compared to August of the previous year, there was a 15.6% increase in the case of visitor numbers and 6.0% in that of overnight stays.

Visitors from abroad accounted for 50.9% of the total number of visitors and 46.3% of the total number of overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country, after registering year-on-year increases of 24.7% and 13.1%, respectively, during August 2025.

The average length of stay in tourist apartments in the Basque Country was 2.81 days in August 2025, below that obtained in August 2024, which stood at 3.06 days. The average length of stay in this type of establishment was 8.93 days in Álava, 3.19 days in Gipuzkoa and 2.27 days in Bizkaia.

The bed occupancy rate reached 54.4% in the Basque Country, after falling 5.1 percentage points compared to August 2024. The apartment occupancy rate increased by 4.8 percentage points to stand at 83.4%.

In August 2025, tourist hostels in the Basque Country recorded a year-on-year increase in visitor numbers of 12.2%, standing at a total of 43,878 visitors and generating a total of 78,549 overnight stays. 44,464 overnight stays were recorded in Bizkaia, 30,433 in Gipuzkoa and lastly, in Álava, the number of overnight stays was 3,652.

The average length of stay in this type of accommodation was 1.79 days in the Basque Country as a whole and the bed occupancy rate, following a year-on-year increase of 9.3 percentage points, reached 70.6%.

Cumulative data (January - August 2025)

In 2025 to date, rural accommodation in the Basque Country attained 124,539 visitors and 341,462 overnight stays; 4.0% and 5.2% more than those obtained for the same cumulative period of 2024. The average stay stood at 2.74 days, similar to the 2.71 days of the previous year. The bed occupancy rate reached 34.4%, compared to the 32.1% obtained in the same cumulative period of 2024. The room occupancy rate also exceeded the 36.7% obtained in 2024, standing at 39.4% for these eight months of 2025.

As regards tourist apartments, in the cumulative period until August, visitor numbers reached 193,816, resulting in 563,975 overnight stays; this was an increase in respect of the same period of 2024, of 32.3% in the case of visitor numbers and 16.3% in that of overnight stays. The average stay was 2.91 days in these eight months of 2025, compared to 3.31 days in the same period of 2024. The bed occupancy rate stood at 40.9%, 0.3 percentage points below the 41.2% reached in the same period 2024. The occupancy rate for apartments stood at 71.3%, 5.5 percentage points above that obtained in the equivalent period of 2024.

Referring to tourist hostels, in 2025 to date they have accumulated 186,364 visitors and 337,567 overnight stays, following increases of 2.6 % in the case of visitor numbers and 0.6% in that of overnight stays, compared to the same months of 2024. The average stay was 1.81 days, down from the 1.85 days of the previous year. Lastly, the bed occupancy rate was 42.0%, 0.4 percentage points down on that obtained during the same cumulative period of 2024.

Note:

The response rate for the Survey on Tourist Establishments this month was 94.1% for Rural Accommodation, 83.3% for Tourist Apartments and 86.6% 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.

(2) 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.

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