Spain’s second most important industry, the tourism industry suffered a 12 per cent year on year fall in guest stays in January. The figures have sent chills throughout the sector as growing concern over the future arises.
Spain relies on tourism for around 10 per cent of GDP, being the second most popular destination for foreign tourists.
During the month of January, 11.2 million overnight stays were recorded in hotel establishments, indicating a 12.0% decrease as compared with the same month in 2008. The decrease in overnight stays was recorded both for residents, whose interannual rate stood at -12.5%, and for non-residents, who presented a variation of -11.6%.
During the month of January, 34.8% of the available bedplaces were filled, 13.6% less than the same month of the previous year. The weekend occupancy rate by bedplaces was 37.5%, with an interannual decrease of 10.9%.
Overnight stays of German and British citizens decrease
Guests from Germany and the United Kingdom made 3.3 million overnight stays in January, accounting for 52.7% of the total for non-residents. Both markets experienced interannual decreases in overnight stays, 13.3% for the German market and 17.1% for the British market.
The Canary Islands struggle on
The main destination chosen by non-residents was Canarias, the Autonomous Community in which overnight stays by foreign nationals, representing 52.7% of the national total, decreased 5.9% as compared with January 2008. The following main destinations chosen by non-resident guests were Andalucía and Cataluña, whose interannual evolution rates were – 18.4% and –15.0%, respectively.
Falling prices to combat the crisis
Hotel prices decreases with respect to the previous year in almost all the categories One gold star and one silver star hotel prices are the only ones that increased in January with respect to the same month of the previous year (0.2% and 1.7% respectively). The most important decreases are in five and four gold stars hotels, (with rates of –5.2% and 3.1% respectively). The rest of the categories also have negative interannual rates, but more moderated: three and two silver stars (-2.4%), three gold stars (-1.3%) and two gold stars (-1.2%).
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This comes as no surprise – the UK tourists now find Spain expensive as their pounds no longer buy lots of Euros. Also the hotels face stiff competition from Apartment/House rentals – when you can rent a 2 bed/2 bath apartment in Valencia city for 50 euros a night who wants a hotel?
Also the cheap airlines may entice people to fly but people are getting fed up with the now over complicated online booking process (virtually now impossible for some to navigate) and all the scam rip off extras with make the final price prohibitive.