A few days ago companies in the tourism sector predicted a record Holy Week both in price and in demand and the forecasts have more than met. The first major holiday period of the year, which ends this Monday in six autonomous communities -Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja- has left occupations that have been close to full in much of Spain despite inflation .
Average hotel occupancies have been above 80%, once last-minute reservations have completed the already high reservation rates, and have reached 100% in places such as the Canary Islands, the peninsular coasts, and linked destinations to religious tourism, such as Seville, Malaga, Toledo, Zamora or Valladolid, among others.
The president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (Cehat), Jorge Marichal, explained to Efe that occupancies on the first days of the week were between 65% and 70%, rising to an average of 95 % on central dates (between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday). The snow destinations have also been located on those central days in occupations close to 90%.
The executive vice president of the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV), José Manuel Lastra, has indicated that the figures for Easter reflect a full recovery of activity compared to pre-covid values, both in incoming and outbound tourism, and it has also done so in terms of employment, already clearly above then.
Spaniards have traveled both to national destinations (islands, coasts, and procession cities) and international destinations (European capitals, Egypt, Turkey, the Caribbean, and the United States), among which Asian countries are also recovering, according to CEAV.
The employers' association of travel agencies also points out that tourism from other countries continues to be strong, with a high entry of British, German and French -the first three issuers of tourists to Spain- and an intense recovery of the markets is also detected Latin American, Swiss and Portuguese.
Confebus, the employer for passenger transport by road, calculates that between Friday, March 31 and Monday, April 10, 5.7 million seats have been offered, with coastal cities and ski resorts in top positions.
Renfe also increased the available capacity by more than 40,100 seats on its AVE, Avlo, Alvia, Euromed and Intercity commercial service trains to the most demanded destinations in terms of seats.
Aena, for its part, calculates that Spanish airports were close to pre-covid levels, with 60,498 scheduled arrival and departure flights in this period, 1.5% more than last year and 4.6% below the 2019 programming, which was a historical record.
In Catalonia, tourist accommodation has been close to full occupancy, with an average of 90% of places covered. The snow has not been the protagonist of a holiday marked by full spring temperatures and sunny days. However, the ski resorts that remained open have sold more than 60,000 passes, according to the ACN. The natural spaces, the coast and adventure activities have concentrated a large part of the visitors. Apart from the usual family tourism, the numerous organized sporting events have made it possible to reach these figures. The strength of the demand and the momentum of international tourism thus anticipates a summer with figures similar to those of 2019. In the city of Barcelona, hotels have been around occupancies of between 85% and 90%.
All this, despite a considerable rise in the prices of plane tickets, gasoline or accommodation. Price indicators are positive for hoteliers, with increases of 19 percentage points in the average daily rate over 2019 and 21 points in the case of the rate per available room, according to Cehat, which is boosting the profitability of the sector. For the coming months, the hoteliers anticipate that the price level will be maintained.
