València is the sixth Spanish urban tourist destination with the highest income per hotel room, after Barcelona, San Sebastián, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Madrid. But it is the second city - after Malaga - that has seen that value increase the most since 2019, the year before the pandemic. The 90.8 euros obtained for each room are 35.6% more than five years ago, according to data extracted from the latest Exceltur report.
The city of Alicante occupies eleventh place in this ranking, also behind Seville, Girona, Cádiz and Bilbao, with income of 73.4 euros per room, 28.5% more than in 2019.
The report attributes the favorable tourism results of the cities in 2023 "to the strength of their more recreational demand, hand in hand with urban getaways, the recovery of long-haul, especially American, air and especially rail connectivity, accompanied by the enjoy cultural and sporting events, the recovery of the MICE segment and, to a lesser extent, business trips".
However, Exceltur - an association made up of 30 of the most relevant tourism and transport companies - warns that "in the face of these positive factors, some cities suffered the concern and growing discontent of their local residents, due to the uncontrolled effects of the accelerated return of housing of illegal tourist use to the market". The report indicates that housing for tourist use increased by 5.5% compared to 2022, "which represents the opening of 15 thousand new places in the 25 main Spanish cities, the vast majority of them illegal."
Exceltur has also made public its report on the outlook for tourism companies for the year 2024. And it follows that the Valencian Community leads the growth of tourism income (23.5% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of 2023). They are followed by Andalusia (18.1%), Murcia (16.7%), the Canary Islands (12.4%), Asturias (14.7%) and Madrid (13.2%).
Vacation destinations, driven by foreign demand, lead both income levels and growth compared to the same months in 2023. But cities also registered a strong increase, led by Alicante (32.4%), Malaga (31. 3%) and followed by the large cities: Seville (23.9%), Valencia (16.9%), Madrid (13.2%) and Barcelona (12.1%), driven by traditional European markets and the long distance tourism.
