Activities

The community signs one of the best Holy Weeks in recent years, improving up to 10 points from last year’s figures.

In the absence of compiling the latest data, Easter this year signs one of the best data of the last five years, possibly reaching 85% occupation throughout the territory, from Thursday to Sunday, and signing occupations in some points up to ten points higher than last year, in which neither time nor calendar favored the arrival of travelers to Galicia.

In general terms, the occupation for the whole of Easter would remain in the range of 65% to 85%, although the impressions of the sector collected so far coincide in highlighting that last minute reservations encouraged the big days of the Week, improving initial expectations with an arrival of passengers that was noted not only in the accommodation but also in the restoration. It should be borne in mind that these first figures are contributions, as it is necessary to close the final figures, since Easter Monday was still a holiday in several Autonomous Communities.

“The occupation expectations that we handled were positive, despite the fact that weather forecasts did not give us very good weather for the holidays. However, more and more travelers are choosing Galicia as well and this year their loyalty was rewarded,” explained the president of the Galician Tourism Cluster, Cesáreo Pardal, who stressed that the good weather favored last-minute reservations, increasingly common.

Consolidated religious tourism

In the territories traditionally linked to Easter, such as Viveiro or Ferrol, many hotels hung a complete sign with an influx of tourists that also benefited the regions of La Mariña and Ferrolterra. In these cases, the religious tourism is already very consolidated, and year after year, it marks excellent results in these dates. It was the case of Ferrol, with percentages of occupation between 70% and 85%, bordering on the full on big days. Very good feelings also in the Ribeira Sacra, both Lugo and Ourense and occupation figures that will surely be in line with Easter 2017, especially positive for the province of Ourense.

Lugo achieved as a whole of the province an occupation of 93.3%, which meant a rise of more than ten points compared to last year. A Mariña and Ribeira Sacra were the areas of the province with more visitors, with an average of 95%. The key days continued to be Thursdays and Fridays, in which some establishments reached 100%.

In the city of A Coruña the occupancy rate was finally 86%, twelve points above the figure marked in Easter last year, with excellent sensations in the sector. In the case of Santiago de Compostela, which met expectations and reached 80%, the hoteliers especially highlighted the animation in the streets of the big days, which got the city to look with the atmosphere of the Fiestas del Apóstol and allowed some establishments to reach 95% occupancy.

In the province of Pontevedra the occupation would be around 85% overall but we must wait to know the final figures. In the city of Vigo, from Thursday to Sunday, the occupation was around 83.5% while in the city of Pontevedra was 85%, with a remarkable influx of pilgrims who choose the Portuguese Way.

In Sanxenxo the hotel capacity was around 65% and also harvested excellent results, with an average of 84.4% occupancy, which means that more than 31,200 tourists spent the night in this municipality, mostly from Thursday to Sunday. Many of the hotels in Sanxenxo hung the full sign and most had occupations above 90% while in O Grove marked around 90% on the big days of Easter, representing an increase of 20 points over forecasts. Finally Ourense grazed the full on the central days of Easter, leaving a global figure around 80% while rural tourism marked an occupation around 67% on holidays, and around 50% in the week as a whole.

National origin

As usual the origin of the travellers in Easter is mainly national, although in some points the arrival of international tourists is noticed. In this context it should be noted that also influenced the arrival of pilgrims who chose these dates to do the Camino de Santiago.