Clúster

Housing for tourist use has grown in recent months in Galicia, reaching a total of 9,075 according to data from the Register of Tourism Companies and Activities (REAT), a figure almost twice as high as the 5,000 registered in March 2018, which means that four out of five Galician municipalities have accommodation of this type. As for the number of places offered, and passes from 46,000 in this type of accommodation, very close to the 55,000 offered by the hotel sector of the community. At the head, and by far, is the municipality of Sanxenxo Pontevedra, with 1,646 registered homes, triple of those that has its immediate follower, the council of Santiago de Compostela, where tourists can choose between 585 homes.

From the Xunta they emphasize that the arrival of this type of lodgings has not produced “a great conflict or a great loss of coexistence”. “Tourist rentals,” said the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Roman Rodriguez, represent “a new modality that is compatible with normal hotel establishments” and has stressed the need to regulate them. Galicia has been a pioneer with the implementation of a decree and a register in which these establishments are noted.

On the exponential growth of the offer, the conselleiro has nuanced that “in Galicia is growing, but does not have the scale of other communities,” comparing the figures of our community with the example of Catalonia where there are 80,000 establishments of this type.

The increase in this type of accommodation has made the occupation fall this year for the second consecutive year according to data from Aviturga, the Association of Tourist Housing of Galicia. During the month of July were occupied 72.4% of the places offered in the community, compared to 75% recorded in the same month of 2018, a month where they had already fallen 10 percentage points over 2017. “There has been a significant increase in accommodations in the market for identical demand,” they say from the association. Urban destinations such as A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela reached occupancy data similar to those of the previous year, hovering around 79%, followed by Sanxeno, which reaches an occupancy of 77% of its places, surpassing the average of Galicia and improving its figures last year that stood at 74%. The province of Pontevedra leads the occupation ranking with 74%, followed by the province of A Coruña, with 72.5%, Lugo 72 % and Ourense 71.25%.

As for the user profile, the majority of those who opt for these accommodations are families of between 2 and 4 members, of national origin, who seek rest and tranquility and especially value the price and comfort.