Overnight stays in hotels and other lodging options such as apartments, campsites, village houses, and hostels rose 7.2 percent, reaching 10.4 million in May. The May figures surpass the pre-pandemic levels seen in the same month in 2019.
From January through May, non-hotel overnight stays grew 13.8 percent year over year, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics on Monday. The comparison uses the same period in 2019 for reference.
The May average stay was 3.8 nights per traveler, according to INE.
Overnight stays in touristic apartments rose 7.1 percent in May versus May 2022. Resident stays increased by 0.8 percent, while non-resident stays climbed 9.4 percent.
The overall average stay rose 3.1 percent to 4.8 nights per traveler. In May, 31.4 percent of the apartments offered were occupied, up 3.2 percent from May 2022, while weekend occupancy in these units declined by 0.2 percentage points to 35.6 percent.
Canary Islands remained the top destination in apartments with more than 1.6 million overnight stays, a 1.7 percent rise from May 2022. The Community of Madrid posted the highest apartment occupancy at 73.5 percent. Costa Blanca emerged as the leading tourist area by popularity. The Barcelona coast recorded the most apartment occupancy at 86.1 percent of units offered, with Costa Blanca (Alicante) also showing a high availability rate.
Camping and rural tourism
In May, overnight stays at campsites grew 9.6 percent compared to May of the previous year. Resident stays fell 4.3 percent, while non-residents increased by 26.9 percent. During the month, 36.6 percent of plots were occupied, up 4.9 percent from May 2022; weekend occupancy reached 38.2 percent, down 5 percentage points year on year. Catalonia stood out as the top camping destination with more than 1.5 million overnight stays. Cantabria achieved the highest campsite occupancy at 67.3 percent of plots offered, marking an 11.8 percent annual increase. By tourist area, the Costa Brava was the preferred destination with 637,578 overnight stays, while Costa Blanca (Alicante) recorded the highest occupancy rate at 67.2 percent of plots offered.
Related centers of rural tourism showed growth of 3.5 percent in May; resident stays declined by 5.7 percent while non-residents increased by 21.6 percent. Across communities, the Balearic Islands led in overnight stays with 171,992, up 11.2 percent from May 2022, and they also reached the highest occupancy rate at 52.7 percent of places offered.
In May, hostels reported 729,775 overnight stays, up 2.9 percent year over year. Resident stays dropped 12.3 percent, while non-residents rose by 15.4 percent.