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Pilar Martínez
Malaga
Wednesday, 24 April 2024, 22:59
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After a record first quarter for Andalucía's hotel sector, Arturo Bernal the Junta's regional minister for tourism is already predicting a six-month period of strong growth compared to the best year to date for the sector.
Turning to specifics, his forecast is that the region's hotels will rack up 26 million stays by the end of June, a total that represents an increase of almost 11%. "The forecasts point to a slight increase in overnight stays in April despite the 'Easter effect' of it falling in March, and larger increases are expected again in May and June, so the region could close the first half of the year at close to 26 million stays, an increase of 10.7%."
Bernal said that, from January to March, hotels in the region welcomed 3.9 million travellers, amounting to nearly 9.5 million overnight stays, which represents increases of 11.6% and 18.5% respectively compared to the same period in 2023. However, it should be borne in mind that the figures might be slightly skewed by the impact of when Easter falls, this year in March but last year in April.
Even so, it should be noted that the increase recorded for this year gives continuity to the seemingly upward trend of the region as a tourist destination for the start of 2024, seeing as it has already gained an increase in hotel overnight stays of 13.8% in the first two months. He continued: "Andalucía is only in second place behind the Canaries for overnight stays, with a 15.9% share of the whole country's total for overnight stays in hotels", and "the region is consolidating its position during this period as first choice destination for domestic travellers and third choice for overseas travellers with one of the largest increases in numbers across the country's main tourist regions."
The growth in this first quarter applies to all eight provinces in Andalucía with across-the-board increases in both guests and overnight stays. The stats are as follows: 44.7% in Huelva, 30.4% in Almeria, 22.4% in Malaga, 19% in Cadiz, 12% in Cordoba, 11.8% in Granada, 11.7% in Seville and nearly 10% in Jaen. Of the 9.5 million hotel stays in Andalucía, hotels in Malaga province accounted for more than 3.7 million nights booked by the 1.1 million guests who stayed there in the first quarter of the year.
International market strength
Bernal sets a lot of store on the pull of the region as a popular tourist destination, adding that, "in the first quarter it reached the highest record ever in hotel overnight stays for the region, exceeding by 9.6% the previous record achieved in 2019, the year before the pandemic in which Easter was in April, but also still beating previous years when Easter also fell in March as with 2018 and 2016".
In March alone, Andalucía's hotels had 1.6 million tourists staying in them, 13.9% more than in the same month in 2023. Overnight stays stood at 4.2 million, up 25.1%. "This is the best month of March since records began, exceeding for the first time the four million mark in overnight stays, placing the region again as the second most popular destination in the country with the highest increase in overnight stays of all top five tourist regions," he added.
The data also points to the strength of demand from the international market with 1.77 million foreign tourists staying in the region's hotels, up by almost 25% . These tourists have generated 5.2 million overnight stays, an increase of 29%. In addition, coinciding with Easter Week, there was also a greater increase in domestic travellers to 2.1 million tourists and 4.2 million overnight stays, representing growth of 2.4% and 7.8% respectively. This upward trend has led to more jobs creation, standing at a 14.6% increase, taking the total employed in this sector to 29,400.
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