Prices hoteliers moderated their rise in April to 9.3%, coinciding with Easter in which the occupation has even exceeded the pre-covid figures. The prices of these establishments had been rising by double digits since January and had also accumulated twenty-three continuous months of growth. The acceleration of tourism has triggered overnight stays by 11.5% in year-on-year terms to 28 million, above the figure they reached in the same month of 2019, before the pandemic broke out and activity came to a complete halt.
The Hotel Tourism Situation survey, published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), confirms the good health of the sector with the recovery of international travelers, who totaled 17.3 million nights, compared to 10.7 million nationals (38.4% of the total). The strong pull of the foreign sector (which includes the spending that foreigners make in Spain) had already allowed GDP to accelerate its increase to 0.5% in the first quarter, three tenths above what it grew in the previous two .
Looking ahead to the second quarter, activity is expected to maintain the same pace. At the moment, in the accumulated from January to April, overnight stays rose by 20.9% when compared to the same period of the previous year, therefore they also exceed the records prior to the health crisis. The two main issuing markets are once again United Kingdom and Germany, which concentrate 22.1% and 18.3% of the total overnight stays of non-residents. In addition, occupancy by tourists from France, the Netherlands and the United States (the next most important markets) account for 10.0%, 4.7% and 4.6% of the total, respectively.
Hotels increase their billing by 8.8%
Last April, the average stay in hotels in Spain decreased by 1.6% compared to the same month of the previous year, standing at 2.9 overnight stays per traveller. In this propitious context, establishments They have shot up their average billing by 8.8% to close to 105 euros. The average daily billing of hotels for each occupied room (ADR) was 104.9 euros in April, which represents an increase of 8.8% compared to the same month in 2022.
The data from the Hotel Price Index (IPH) also shows that the average daily income per available room (RevPAR), which is directly affected by the degree of occupancy registered by hotel establishments, reached 70.1 euros. , with a rise of 17.9%. Spain recovers practically all the weight it lost during the Covid as a tourist destination and, in fact, only in the first quarter of the year the number of international visitors shot up 41.2% compared to the same period in 2022 to 13.7 millions. They are fewer than those who arrived in the year before the pandemic and, nevertheless, they spent 11.9% more.
According to the INE, Andalusia, Catalonia and the Valencian Community were the destinations chosen by national travelers, while The Canary Islands repeated one more month as the main destination chosen by foreign visitors, followed by Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In April, almost 60% of the beds offered in Spanish hotels were occupied, representing an annual increase of 7.4%. Occupancy in the case of the Canary Islands exceeded 70%. By tourist areas, Mallorca registered the highest number of overnight stays in April, with more than 3.1 million; while Adeje presented the highest degree of occupancy by beds (79%).
The prospects are very positive for the summer season for an activity that contributes about 12% to GDP, according to the information handled by the sector. The latest data in this regard published by Statistics placed tourist activity at 97,126 million euros in 2021, the equivalent of 8% of GDP. The characteristic branches of tourism generated 2.27 million jobs that year, 11.4% of total employment.