Spain reached a record number of hotel stays last year, despite a sharp increase in room rates. The number of overnight stays rose to a total of 347.1 million in 2023. That is 8.4 percent more than a year earlier, the statistics authority INE announced on Wednesday. The previous record of pre-corona year 2019 was exceeded by 1.2 percent. The average room rate in the popular holiday destination rose by 8.5 percent last year to 112.90 euros per night, reports the German dpa. The record was mainly due to hotel guests from abroad. The number of overnight stays by foreigners rose by 12.6 percent to over 225 million. The British (58 million overnight stays) and Germans (40 million overnight stays) lead the way. The Dutch account for 10.4 million hotel nights in Spain, an increase of almost 5 percent. The number of overnight stays by Spaniards themselves rose by only 1.3 percent last year. With a total of 45.9 million overnight stays, Mallorca was the most popular destination in Spain last year. However, the Balearic Islands, to which Mallorca belongs, come in second place with a share of 23.9 percent of all foreign overnight stays. The Canary Islands score highest with overnight stays by foreign visitors, with a share of 26.9 percent. Spain’s tourism industry is considered the most important economic factor in the EU’s fourth-largest economy. Tourism accounts for nearly 13 percent of the gross domestic product. In 2022, more than 2.5 million people worked in Spanish tourism. (Photo Shutterstock).
