Galicia will exceed five million tourists this year for the second time in its history

Galicia will exceed five million tourists this year for the second time in its history

While waiting for the last records of November and December, our Community already received more than 4.8 million tourists and 10.4 million overnight stays
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, Galician hotels are leading the growth of travellers and nights in Spain as a whole

Galicia is expected to exceed five million tourists this year for the second time in its history. According to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), while waiting to count the last data of November and December, our Community received more than 4.8 million tourists who made 10.4 million overnight stays. Thus, if the evolution recorded over recent months is maintained, this 2019 would again overcome the historical barrier of five million travelers, something that only took place in 2017, when about 5.1 million tourists were counted.

The INE figures confirm the good progress of Galician tourism and its positive evolution compared to Spain as a whole. In fact, so far this year, Galician hotels have led the growth of travelers and nights at the state level. In addition, our Community registers a positive behavior in the three big segments of market, especially in the one that refers to the foreign tourism. Thus, domestic tourism grew by 2.6%, national tourism by 4.7% and international tourism by 11.1% compared to last year, exceeding 2 million nights, a figure that represents a historical maximum.

Similarly, there was an improvement in profitability indicators that allowed the hotel sector to grow by 8% in the year to date around 300 million euros in profits and occupation grew by almost two points, while the average stay remained stable.

Growth in November
With respect to the month of November, the INE data on hotel occupancy (missing the extrahotel) show the capacity of Galician tourism to grow in the mid-low season and despite the weather instability recorded in recent weeks. In this sense, hotel demand grew by 1.1%, reaching 505,406 nights, the highest figure in the last twelve years; while the number of travellers grew by 2.2%, reaching 242,437.

In this field, the growth in foreign visitors is particularly noteworthy, with nearly 89,000 nights, achieving the second highest figure in the historical series in a month of November, only behind 2017.