Occupancy in hotel and non-hotel accommodations in Lanzarote rose ten points in August compared to last July, but still did not reach 38%, despite the fact that less than half were open. Specifically, 50% percent of the hotels and 62% of the non-hotel accommodations on the island remained closed last month.
In terms of turnover, this meant total revenues of 12.9 million euros, with an interannual decrease of 83%. In August 2019, they had collected 75.3 million euros, which is 62.3 million more than the same month this year, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, revenues did improve slightly compared to July, when they were 8.2 million euros, with an occupancy rate of only 27.2%. In total, so far this year, the sector's revenues have decreased by more than 300 million euros compared to the same period of the previous year.
As for the establishments that were open, in July there were 90 (32 hotels and 58 non-hotel accommodations) and in August 108 (38 hotels and 70 non-hotel accommodations), compared to the 259 that were open in the summer of 2019 (76 hotels and 183 non-hotel accommodations).
Initially, several more hotels were planning to open last month, but the bans imposed by the main issuing countries - first the United Kingdom and then Germany - led them to change their plans and maintain the closure. However, the number of accommodated travelers did grow slightly in August compared to July, although mainly due to domestic tourism and even tourism from other islands.
In total, in July there were 42,172 tourists staying in Lanzarote and in August the number rose to 70,053. Even so, the decrease compared to the previous year was 75%, since in August 2019 the island received 282,925 travelers.
In addition, hoteliers have also had to lower prices this summer, from an average of 118 euros per night in hotels in August 2019 to 90 euros in August this year. And that explains why the percentage of decrease in revenue has been even greater than that of tourist arrivals.
The only parameter that increased compared to the previous year was the average stay, although slightly, from 8.34 nights to 8.62.
As for the number of places offered in August, it amounted to 33,953 - in the 108 establishments that were open - compared to the almost 72,000 accommodation places that the island has, and that mostly remain closed.
This has also had a direct impact on employment. In August 2019, the jobs linked to hotels and non-hotel establishments amounted to 10,162, while last month it was 4,120 jobs, with a decrease of 59%.
