Number of visitors in the Basque Country was down by 14.1% in April

There were 168,115 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in April 2013, 27,564 down on the same month of the previous year, which was a decrease of 14.1%, according to Eustat data. The number of visitors fell by 7.8% in Gipuzkoa, 15.7% in Bizkaia and by 23.5% in Álava compared to the same month of 2012.

The number of visitors from within Spain fell by 20.2% compared to April 2012, whilst the number of foreign visitors was down slightly (-1.1%). Visitors from Spain reduced their presence in the three provinces: in Gipuzkoa they were down by 18.1%, in Bizkaia they were down by 18.4% and in Álava there was a decrease of 29.3%. The number of overseas visitors increased by 12.2% in Bizkaia, but in Álava and Gipuzkoa they were down by 1.9% and 10.5%, respectively.

Registered overnight stays in April 2013 stood at 305,138, which was 18.5% down on the same month of the previous year, that is, there were 69,143 fewer overnight stays. Overnight stays had a year-on-year negative evolution in the three provinces; in Gipuzkoa they were down by 11.9%, in Bizkaia there was a drop of 20.1% and in Álava the fall experienced was 28.7%, compared to April 2012.

The average length of stay decreased compared to April 2012: it dropped from 1.91 days to 1.82 this April for the Basque Country. In Álava it was down by 6.2%, standing at 1.80 days, whilst in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa it decreased by 4.7% in both cases, standing at 1.81 and 1.83 days, respectively.

The bed occupancy rate was down by 8.8 percentage points for the Basque Country overall, going from an occupancy rate of 47.19% in April 2012 to 38.36% in the same month of this year. The greatest decrease was in Álava, where it went from 43,09% to 31,94%, 11.2 percentage points down; In Gipuzkoa there was a drop of 8.7 points, going from 48.58% in April 2012 to 39.92% this April, whilst Bizkaia registered an occupancy rate of 39.37% for this April against 47.64% registered the previous year, a downturn of 8.2 percentage points.

In the accumulated first four months of the year there were 583,183 visitors to the hotel establishments in the Basque Country, which was a drop of 5.7% on the same period of 2012. The number of overnight stays stood at 1,048,901, which was a drop of 6.9% with regards to the first four months of the previous year. The average stay posted a downturn of 1.2%, going from 1.82 days in the first quarter of 2012 to 1.80 days in the first quarter of 2013. The bed occupancy rate registered a drop of 7.0%, going from 36.87% occupancy in the first four months of 2012 to 34.28% for the same period of 2013.

Rural tourism

The number of visitors to rural tourism establishments in the Basque Country totalled 11,448 in April, which was 39.4% down with respect to the same month of the previous year, dropping by 52.0% in Álava, 35.5% in Gipuzkoa and 32.7% in Bizkaia. There was a 43.5% overall drop in visitors from within Spain to the Basque Country: they were down 53.7% in Bizkaia, 41.2% in Gipuzkoa and 36.8% in Álava. Foreign visitors increased their numbers by 20.4% in the Basque Country as a whole, with high percentage increases in Álava and Gipuzkoa and a sharp drop in Bizkaia.

There were 15,728 overnight stays in rural tourism establishments of the Basque Country in April, which was 48.4% down on the same month of the previous year, with significantly negative year-on-year rates in the three provinces.

The average length of stay per visitor decreased with respect to April 2012, dropping from 2.53 days a year ago to 2.16 days this April.

The bed occupancy rate fell from 24.69% to 13.07%, due to the downturns registered in the three provinces:

During the first four months of 2013 there were a total of 24,997 visitors registered in the rural tourism establishments of the Basque Country, which was a 19.0% decrease on the first four-month period of 2012.

The number of overnight stays in the period from January-April 2013 stood at 58,386, down 16.4% on the same period of the previous year.