foreigners upload, nationals are stagnant

2024 was A good year For hotels in Spain. With the already distant memory of pandemic and tourist flow taking strength Internationally, Spanish accommodations reached A historical maximum of overnight stays: they added almost 364 million hired nights, a 4.9% more than 2023 And above even Pre-covid data. When analyzed closely, it is observed, however, this data has a “but”. If the hotels achieved historical value it was basically for foreign tourism, which compensated for the national stagnation.

In Spanish hotels it begins to be easier to hear than Spanish.

Two -speed tourism. The data of the National Statistics Institute (INE) are clear: although in 2024 the overnight They increased 4.9% In the hotels in Spain, that percentage hides two very different realities.

The demand for foreign visitors grows. Not that of domestic tourism. The first paid for 241.7 million Of nights, 7.5% more than in 2023, while Spanish travelers stayed at 121.9 million overnight stays, practically the same (+0.2%) as the previous year. With that backdrop, the annual rate of the hotel price index rebounded 7%.

Is there more data? Yes. Ine values ​​point in the same direction as the published A few days ago In X by economist Ángel Talavera based on the Tables of Oxford Economics and Harver Analytics. In his graphic it is also appreciated how during the last years (with the Covid break) the gap between the demand of the Spaniards and the foreigner has been widen, especially in the last two exercises. While foreign visitors’s overnightness grew about 17% (20.1%, according to the INE), that of national tourists barely varied.

How many tourists are equivalent? In total, a 116.3 million travelers. Of these, 54.3 million resided in Spain and the remaining 61.9 arrived from other countries. Those figures show two conclusions. The first helps to understand the growing weight of foreigners’ overnight stays in the hotels in Spain: on average, their stays are longer. Almost four nights, fry at 2.2 of the Spaniards.

The second conclusion is that hotel growth relies mainly on the impulse of foreign tourism. In 2024 the flow of tourists from other countries grew by 8.22% while that of residents remained practically frozen, with a slight fall of 0.7%. In general, the INE shows that the Spaniards look more and more abroad to plan our vacations. In 2024 trips out of the country They grew by 12.1% While the inmates fell 2.3%.

British and Germans, the “kings“. Their statistics They allow you to go even further and get an idea where they come and what regions of Spain prefer. With respect to the former, their origin, two large emitting foci, the United Kingdom and Germany, whose travelers starred in 43% of foreigners’ overnight (102.9 million). In addition, both groups grew in 2024.

As for the second, in which regions of Spain they stay, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean stand out. The archipelago monopolized 26.3% of overnight Of the non -residents in Spain, 5% more than in 2023. In second and third are the Balearic Islands (23.9% of the total) and Catalonia (18.2%). That last area is also one of the most busy by the Spaniards, together with Andalusia and Community Valencian. In general, Mallorca was the point in Spain with more number of speakers.

And outside the hotels? All of the above are data from the report of the Hotel Tourist situation of the INE, which focuses the focus basically on the “hotel establishments”, a wide label that covers traditional hotels, hostels, motels and pensions. Another equally interesting fact is that of tourist businesses “Estruosteraros”which includes campsites, shelters, rural tourism and apartments accommodations. His 2024 general photo is very similar.

Their businesses closed the year with more overnight than in 2023. To be precise, 3% more. Although that data hides two realities when analyzing travelers due to their place origin. Spaniard overnight pernotations fell 0.5%. On the contrary that those of foreigners, who grew by 5.8%..

Data issue … The record in the hotels in Spain, promoted mainly by travelers from other countries, is not quite a novelty. Before the sector ended 2024 I already pointed out to a historical brand in the flow of foreign tourists, which reinforces the weight of Spain in the international tourist circuit. In fact Google and Deloitte They estimate That in the medium term, in 2040, Spain can be the destination with the highest influx of tourists on the planet, ahead of France or the US.

… and challenges. That growth has been rigging, however, important challenges. The tourist boom, especially of foreign visitors with greater purchasing power, has Increased offer of holiday rental, Tensioning (even more) The residential housing market at points such as Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Canary Islands or Madrid. Such is the situation that administrations already They have moved file To try tackle the housing transfer to the tourism market.

The neighbors of the most affected areas have also out to the street for claim A tourist model compatible with the day -to -day life of residents. They have seen in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid or Catalonia, where last summer a group of protesters reached shoot with guns of water to visitors in protest. The image gave the return to the world. To the north, in Cantabria, the residents even They have mobilized Under the motto “We don’t want to be the North Ibiza.”

The threat. The great challenge that now the main tourist destinations in Spain, as in Other countriesIt is not to die of success. I may sound exaggerated, but there is already some important travel guide that advise to visit Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands in 2025 for considering them massive.

“Tourists do not tire of Europe, but the discontent residents of many European destinations no longer want to receive them, at least not in such extreme quantities,” They warned The authors of ‘Fodor´s Travel’ in a recent article.

Images | Eduardo Bayon Perales (Flickr) and INE 1 and 2

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