The forecasts that predicted a golden summer for tourism are not being fulfilled in a general way. Those most affected by the higher expenses that households must face due to inflation and the increase in mortgage payments are tourist apartments and rural accommodation, where overnight stays fell by 5.1% in the month of July and by 3.6% year-on-year. , respectively, according to data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
In the global non-hotel tourist accommodation - which also includes campsites and hostels - 21.3 million overnight stays were recorded, 2.2% less compared to the same month last year, in contrast to hotel establishments, where they rose by 2. 5%. In the first seven months of the year, overnight stays in non-hotel accommodation increased by 5.6% compared to the same period in 2022 and exceeded the figures recorded before the pandemic by 6.3%.
Despite not meeting its expectations in July, the tourist apartment sector values the summer season very positively. “It has been a good summer in billing and occupancy,” says Miguel Ángel Sotillos, president of the Spanish Federation of Tourist Housing and Apartment Associations. Despite this, he recognizes that “in many cases it was not until after the elections that the occupation of other years was reached.”
The elections, according to him, have been a factor that has significantly influenced the number of travelers and overnight stays, which fell by more than half a million compared to the same period of the previous year. Another factor to take into account, indicates the president of the Association of Tourist Apartments of Barcelona, Enrique Alcántara, is the increase in the places offered, which in total amounted to 631,788, 2.3% more, as well as the fact that compare the figures with those of the same period in 2022, in which overnight stays increased by almost 53% coinciding with the end of the pandemic.
“There are no growth ratios because last summer was the best there was,” he comments. However, he does not rule out that the greater expense that families have had to face this year due to inflation and rising rates has also been noted in the hiring of tourist apartments. In fact, INE data indicate that the average stay in this type of accommodation has fallen by 3%, standing at 5.4 overnight stays per traveler.
However, the decline has not been widespread and has affected to a lesser extent destinations where the proportion of foreign travelers is higher, as is the case of Barcelona. In the city of Barcelona, Alcántara asserts, overnight stays have not fallen because "demand continues to grow" and "no new tourist apartment licenses have been issued for nine years."
However, in the Valencian Community, the destinations that receive a greater variety of nationalities are suffering less than those that are more dependent on national tourism. In fact, Sotillos maintains that in towns like Denia and Gandía "there are owners of tourist apartments that it has been difficult for them to fill", although he also acknowledges that prices have risen -an average of 6.8% in the country as a whole-.
For their part, campsites and hostels improved their overnight stay figures compared to July 2022 by 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively. The data also show that the overnight stays of residents in non-hotel accommodation fell to a greater extent -by 3.9%- than those of non-residents -by 0.4%-. The average stay was 4.5 overnight stays per traveler.
