After knowing the data for the last quarter of 2020, in which residents' trips fell by 57.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, it has been verified what was already a reality: the blow to the tourism sector in a year in which

trips fell by 47.6% and spending was reduced by 56%

.

As was also to be expected due to the restrictions, the vast majority of trips (95% overall and 97.7% in the last quarter) were nationwide.

Thus, in a 2020 marked by the pandemic, people residing in Spain made practically half (specifically, 47.6% less) of trips than in 2019 for a total of

101.5 million

, according to data published by the INE .

In total, 92.4 million trips less than the 193.9 million in 2019, which registered a notable drop of 1.1% compared to 2018.

Of the 96.4 million trips that residents made within Spain, 56.6% went to

the Autonomous Community of origin itself

, while 38.4% (38.9 million in total) were made to another Community and only 5% (five million) came abroad.

The average expenditure was 43 euros per day, although the figure drops to 39 euros if trips outside of Spain are excluded.

This represents a 56% drop in total spending, which went to € 21,135 million after reaching € 48,065.8 million in 2019. Then, on average, € 61 was spent each day.

Regarding the reasons, most of the trips (47% of the total) were made for leisure (this activity took 55.9% of the expense) or for visits to family or friends (38.1% and 24.4% of the expense).

Business trips also plummeted in quantity (from 16.1 million to 9.3), although not as a percentage of the total: they rose from 8.3% to 9.2%.

By communities, the most visited was

Andalusia

(18.8 million trips; 18.6% of the total), followed by Catalonia (13.4 million and 13.3%) and the Valencian Community (11.6 million and 11 ,4%).

Little market accommodation

On these trips, the preferred accommodation option was

non-market accommodation

(that is, homes owned, either by the travelers themselves or by their family or friends), which absorbed 69.6% of the overnight stays.

Hotel accommodation took 11.7% of these (this represented 32% of total expenditure or 6,770.2 million euros) and non-hotel accommodation, 18.7% (26.6% and 5,617.5 million) .

The INE has also published the Hotel Tourism Situation data for February 2021, which confirm the precarious situation of the sector.

In this month, overnight stays stood at 2.3 million, a drop of 86.5% compared to 2020 in which, remember, the Mobile World Congress that should have taken place between 24 and 27 of that month was canceled. .

February 2020 is, in fact, the last month in which there was growth in overnight stays, which in this case had increased by 6.2% compared to 2019. March already brought a fall of 61.1%, which was 100 % in April, 99.2% in May and 95.1% in June.

July (-73.4%) and August (-64.3%) could do little to save a catastrophic year.

In this month, hotels have billed

60 euros on average

per occupied room, an annual decrease of 28.2% that has affected the 7,261 open establishments (42.9% less than the same month of 2020).

Madrid, preferred destination

Community of Madrid (19.3% of overnight stays), the Canary Islands (15.4%) and Catalonia (14.3%) were the

preferred destinations

for all travelers in February, despite having fallen by 75.4% , 93.2% and 85.8% in overnight stays compared to the previous year.

However, this data varies if only travelers residing in Spain are taken into account: in that case Andalusia would be placed in second place instead of the Canary Islands.

The archipelago is the preferred destination for non-residents, with 36.2% of their total overnight stays.

The Community and Madrid and Catalonia occupy the second and third place in this regard.

82.81% of the overnight stays were made by people residing in Spain and 17.19% by residents abroad.

French

citizens

accounted for 16.2% of overnight stays by non-residents in February (a total of 39,161 travelers), while

Germans

accounted for 11.5% (14,976 people) and

Italians

, 7% (15,631 travelers) .

Only 16.4% of the total places offered in February were covered.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Spain

  • Catalonia

  • INE

  • Canary Islands

  • Madrid

  • Andalusia

  • Valencian Community

  • tourism

  • economy

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Holidays Work calendar 2021: Holidays and bridges

See links of interest

  • Holidays 2021

  • Income 2021