Clúster Turismo de Galicia

Occupancy forecasts for August would range from 85% to 90% for the whole of the territory, with good profitability performance.

In the absence of knowing the definitive data for the month of August provided by the INE, the Galician tourism sector advances a first very positive balance in terms of behavior in the months of July and August in our territory. Despite the weather instability that marked the month of July and the beginning of August, the data have been more positive than expected, while August has been a month that has met expectations.

Previously, the sector had set as a milestone to match last year’s figures with a view to weather forecasts that were not the most positive for the early summer. Finally, the occupation of the month of July in Galicia oscillated in figures around 65% in urban destinations, marking figures very similar to those of July 2017 and improving the numbers of travelers and overnight stays in all forms of accommodation. Thus, Galicia led the growth of tourism in Spain in July, with more than 675,000 travelers and 1.7 million overnight stays between hotel and extrahotelero. These figures assume that our territory received almost 7% more travelers than in July last year marking the best number of travelers and occupation of Spain only behind Asturias.

For its part, the occupation of the month of August, in the absence of official figures, is expected to be in numbers similar to those of the previous year, specifically in the arc of 85-90% with excellent results in territories such as the Rías Baixas and the Ribeira Sacra, which may have marked its best August since it is monitored.

Galicia also manages to improve as a whole in the average stay, although with differences, according to the type of establishments, increasing in the extrahoteleros. In July the average stay in Galician accommodation grew last month by nearly one percentage point, accumulating, according to the Xunta, four consecutive years of improvement in this indicator during the month of July.

Regarding the origin of tourists, the national market remains the majority, around 80% of the total although there is positive behavior in general terms of international tourism, especially in destinations such as Compostela, where it accounts for more than 40% of the total. It should also be noted that, according to data from the INE, increased both the number of Spanish tourists and foreigners, the increase among the latter being more intense with the arrival of 11% more than in July last year.

By urban destinations, A Coruña marked a good summer and with occupancy rates above 70% in July and almost 90% in August, with a significant increase in travelers compared to last year while improving the number of overnight stays, more than 119 thousand nights this month, the highest figure in the historical series of July. It also improved profitability, like Santiago de Compostela, where summer was marked by a very stable behavior in both July and August, standing at around 65% in July and 75% in August. The national market represents 57% of the total, compared to the remaining 43% of international origin. In Ferrol has detected a slight increase in occupancy standing at around 65% in July and 80% in August, and improving numbers of passengers and overnight stays in July with a slight fall in prices of approximately 10%.

Historical figures in the Ribeira Sacra

With almost 29 thousand nights, Lugo marks its best month of July of the historical figure, improving last year’s figures in both travelers and overnight stays and improving in average stay and hotel rates, which results in improved profitability, reaching 31 euros RevPar. In August improved occupancy figures, because if in July hovered 75% in August were around 90%. In the whole of the province of Lugo hotel occupancy in August stood at an average of 88 % occupancy being the Ribeira Sacra the area of the province with more visitors, with an average of 95 % occupancy. Lugo Centro achieved 94.82 %, A Mariña was 91.5 %, Terra Chá reached an average of 83.75 % and A Montaña was 75 %.

Oursense city, for its part, broke in July the figures of the year 2017 and 2018 with more than 22 thousand nights, which is the best figure of a July of the last ten years in a context of improvement in profitability exceeding 33 euros RevPAR. In August the occupancy was over 90% which also meant a slight increase in prices and profitability. In Ribeira Sacra, Ourense, occupancy was close to 95%.

With more than 100 thousand overnight stays, Vigo shows a positive performance in July despite not increasing the total number of passengers, marking a final occupancy of around 70% in July while in August would be around 85%. All in all, the increase in the number of nights and, therefore the average stay, allow you to mark a month of July in positive, with an increase in tariffs and therefore profitability of six points getting to improve nothing less than 17% RevPAR which is at 52 euros average income per available room.

In the city of Pontevedra grew slightly both the arrival of travelers and overnight stays, 4.5% and 2.7% respectively, which put the city at 29 thousand nights, one of the best figures in the last five years with a homogeneous behavior between the two markets, national, which accounts for 76% of demand, and foreign in a context of growth in supply and an occupation of almost 70% and an average occupancy of 86%. Sanxenxo maintained its occupancy at around 90% in July and August, although meteorological instability may have caused consumption to fall slightly, although the municipality managed to maintain the scales of previous years while O Grove recorded an average occupancy of 87%.

Finally, in the province of Pontevedra, as a whole, there was an increase in occupation compared to the previous year, with high expectations after a month of July that had surpassed the figures of the previous year. Thus, in the province as a whole occupation stood at 83%, slightly lower than the even period of 2018. Like the occupation, prices also experienced a change, in this case approximately 5% more than the summer of the previous year. As for rural tourism, the average stood at 84% throughout the province. For the month of September, it is expected to reach an average of 51% for the entire region, according to data provided by the Diputación de Pontevedra.