Spain’s hotels registered more than 17.7 million overnight stays in February, up by 6.8% compared to the same month a year earlier, according to provisional data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). INE noted that the month of February had one more weekend in 2020 than it did in 2019.
The increase, which does not yet reflect the impact of the coronavirus, was a consequence of a 9.8% increase in overnight stays by Spaniards and a 4.8% increase in those made by foreigners.
With the rise in February, overnight stays in hotel establishments continued their year-on-year growth trajectory following increases of 0.5% in November, 1.5% in December and 2.9% in January.
However, hotels invoiced 83.70 euros per occupied room, on average, in February, which represented an annual decrease of 0.7%. The average duration of stays also decreased, by 0.9%, compared with February 2019, to 2.7 nights per traveller.