The formula of nature, calm and good kitchen that for years promoted Rural tourism In Asturias It seems to lose bellows. AND clearly. Although the photo of recent years is distorted by COVID, the housing of the principality specialized in this type of tourism have seen how His activity descended until they were driving before the pandemic. At least according to INE data. It is not so much a “puncture” in the flow of travelers and in that of the rooms (They last less) and the loss of interest in the national market.
The phenomenon is interesting because it coincides with another or even more media: complaints in a large part of the peninsular northern ( Galicia to Cantabria or in your own Asturias) For precisely the opposite, the effects of tourist massification. While in Cantabria they cry for not being “The North Ibiza” And Galicia complains about The “fodechinchos”inside and the Asturian mountain the hoteliers cry out for measures that avoid the slow decline of rural tourism.
An icon in low hours. A quick search arrives on Google to verify that rural tourism does not go through its best moment in Asturias. TO The news of the Regional Press about The fall of activity those in the sector claiming are added “Specific aids” and those of the Principality trying to reassure him. In fact, in January Adrián Barbón He promised to “rethink” rural tourism of the region “to recover thrust.” Shortly after its executive announced a Bond program With discounts designed to encourage demand.
That the situation of the sector arouses so much interest in the Principality is more than understandable. In the mid -80s, and thanks largely to your campaign “Asturias Paraíso Natural”the community managed to make a place in a sector in which until then the tourism of Sun and beach prevailed. Today Asturias adds hundreds of establishments with thousands of places (in August the INE computed almost 1,400 and 14,800respectively) and stands out for its volume of rural houses per capita.
What do the data say? That the sector has known better times. The INE shows that last year the Rural Accommodations of Asturias received some 304,000 travelers who paid for 924,400 overnight stays. The first data is not exactly bad. It is a slight increase of 1.7% compared to 2023 and is online of 2019. The second worries. In a Growth scenario The number of hired nights fell 3.2% year -on -year and remains away from the almost 975,000 overnight stays that the sector managed in 2019.
The 2025 start has not been especially good. During the first quarter the volume of travelers and overnight stays fell with respect to last year, although the data should be handled cautiously. First because in 2024 Holy Week, a period of strong tourist demand, fell in March and this year did so in April. Second because There may be variations important from one month to another. In fact the Principality He has checked already for the growth of February.
“Very black winter”. The truth is that the sector is far from satisfied. Recently the president of the EO-Porcia association implied in An interview with eldiario.es that the balance has been of everything but good in recent months. “50% of the peoples that are still inhabited today are for rural tourism. Fixed population and allows you I recognized. In its own accommodations, three apartments and a house, it did not register any reserve between the Bridge of the Constitution and last Holy Week.
Looking for the causes. The big question is … What are you due to these data from the sector, especially overnight stays? Why if in August 2001 the average stay In rural accommodations, was 6.13 days passed to 4.76 in 2019 and 4.24 last year? For Ana Llanoof the Fuentes del Narcea Association, one of the keys is the change in demand. Tourists are looking for different things today during their vacations. Or rather, it does so at a different rhythm and way.
“Before people came to spend the summer, to spend a few days in nature, to enjoy the house themselves. Now people want regrets In eldiario.es. His comment is in tune with the data on the duration of the rooms and another key indicator: the overnight stays fall in the rural one, but grow in the set of Asturias.
“They end rural tourism”. To that challenge others are added: the de -stationalization, the need to enrich the offer with packages or the competition of other types of accommodation, such as Tourist housing (VUT) or the “illegal establishments” that (precisely by acting outside the administration) also blur the balance of the sector. There are those who speak of tens only between Vegadeo and Navia and who focuses the focus on the VUT. “They are ending rural tourism,” they said recently From the sector to The voice.
Foreign lifeguard. The general photo leaves another interesting nuance. Asturian rural accommodations may be invoiced today less overnight than before pandemic, but that fall is mainly due to domestic demand. The nights hired by Spaniards fall, but those reserved by tourists from outside the country have grown considerably. With that backdrop last autumn the Principality launched A campaign aimed above all to the Asturian themselves. His slogan: “Are you sure you know Asturias?”
When tourism does not arrive. The case of Asturias is interesting for something else. Between record tourism data and with the open debate on the effect of the sector on the real estate market, over the last years in much of Spain they have happened The protests against tourist. Especially in points such as the Canary Islands or Balearic Islands, but also in areas of the North, including Galicia or Cantabria, where the saturation of certain points has become a matter of debate.
The Asturian rural and interior situation leaves a key question: what happens when tourism stops arriving or comes less? What if the Fodechinchos Do they stop traveling or areas that have developed a strong tourism industry, are they collapsed of their activity? The issue is interesting because, despite the puncture in rural accommodations, Asturias herself closed last year with “record of visitors and rooms”, as He stood out in January The Government.
Images | AR ® Higher School of Environment (Flickr), José Antonio Cartelle (Flickr)
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