The Canary Islands leads as the preferred Spanish destination in apartments, when last April had more than 1.9 million overnight stays and an interannual decrease of 2%, according to provisional data published this Friday by the INE.
In Spain as a whole, overnight stays in extra-hotel tourist accommodation (apartments, campsites, rural tourism accommodation and hostels) decreased by 17.2% in April, to 9 million, due to the fact that Easter fell in March last year. In addition, overnight stays by residents decreased by 38.5% and those by non-residents increased by 4.2%, while the average stay was 3.7 nights per traveler.
As explained by the INE, taking into account that Easter fell in March in 2023 and in April in 2024, if the data for the two months are analyzed together, an increase in overnight stays of 1.9% is observed compared to the same two-month period of 2023, with a decrease of 7.1% in residents and a rebound of 9% in non-residents.
By type of accommodation, stays in tourist apartments decreased in April by 10.7%, while those in campsites decreased by 25.5%; those in rural tourism, 29.7%; and those in hostels, 0.5%.
The prices of tourist apartments increased by 4.7% in April compared to the same month of 2023, while campsites became 3.9% more expensive and rural tourism accommodation, 2.9%.
Fewer stays in apartments, but more nights
According to these data, overnight stays in tourist apartments decreased by 10.7% in April, although the number of nights of stay increased on average by 4.7%, to 4.7 per traveler. Overnight stays by residents decreased by 35.8%, while those by non-residents increased by 2.2%.
In April, 31.7% of the places offered were occupied, 4.7% less than in 2023. The degree of occupancy per place on weekends was 35.5%, 6.3% less than in 2023. 75.5% of overnight stays were made by non-resident travelers. The United Kingdom was the main issuing market, with 34.7% of the total.
The Canary Islands was the preferred destination in apartments, with more than 1.9 million overnight stays and an interannual decrease of 2%; while the community of Madrid had the highest occupancy, with 79% of the apartments offered.
As for campsites, stays decreased by 25.5% in April, with a cut of 43.1% for residents and an increase of 6.2% for non-residents. In April, 36.3% of the plots offered were occupied, 8% less than in 2023, an occupancy level that was somewhat higher during weekends, 37.9%, although the interannual decrease was also greater, 10.9%.
Germany was the main issuing market, with 25.9% of the total; while the favorite destination of travelers was Catalonia, with more than 1.1 million overnight stays, and an interannual decrease of 26.8%.
Overnight stays in rural tourism accommodation also decreased in April, 29.7%, almost 42.8% for residents and 10.3% higher for non-residents. Likewise, almost 16% of the places were occupied, 30.2% less than in April 2023, with an occupancy level on weekends of 30.3%, 20% less.
Overnight stays in hostels, on the other hand, decreased by just 0.5%, due to the decrease of 11.3% registered by those of residents, compared to the increase of 10% registered by stays of non-residents. Travelers occupied 33.5% of the places, 3.6% less, with a weekend occupancy that decreased by 7.4%, to 38.1%.
