International tourism: an essential pillar at the beginning of the summer tourist season in the Valencian Community

The British market shines with its own light, being the leader in the share of international arrivals in destinations such as Benidorm and the Costa Blanca

Since May 1, the summer tourist season has been officially inaugurated and this is supported by the data obtained by the destinations of the Valencian Community. The beginning of the summer period registers occupancy figures above 80% in most destinations , highlighting Valencia, the city with the highest figure, 91% occupancy, and with the province on the same page with 89.1%.

These good data have been boosted in many destinations by the celebration of the May long weekend. However, this has not reduced the share of international tourism  which, in cases such as Benidorm and València, has represented 60% and 70% respectively. 

The British market shines with its own light, being the leader in the international market share on the Costa Blanca with 12% and in Benidorm, where its predominance is clear, with almost 46% of the total volume. In the case of the city of Turia it is positioned with 8.3%, only surpassed by the US market with 9%.
 

These markets are also joined by other nationalities that are not far behind, especially in the province of Valencia or in the Costa Blanca area (not including Benidorm), characterized by the variety of origins of their guests. Thus, countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the Nordic Countries, Ireland and Italy are positioned as the main international markets that operate in the Valencian Community. 

In contrast, there is the province of Castellón , in which the national market, as is customary during the summer season, reigns with 77% compared to 23% of the international market, in which the French tourist leads with 8.3 %.

Below, we offer you a detailed analysis of hotel occupancy in different parts of the Valencian Community.

The annual hotel occupancy report prepared by  BigDataHOSBEC  for the following tourist spots in the Valencian Community is now available:

Benidorm
White shore
Province of Valencia
Province of Castellón

You can view the full report at the following link:

Biweekly hotel occupancy evolution report – 1st fortnight of May 2024

BENIDORM

The Benidorm destination  maintains the data for the last fortnight of April and records 82.8% occupancy. A figure that slightly improves the records for the same period of the previous year by 1.8 percentage points  (see the weekly evolution of hotel occupancy in the bar graph of the report).

International tourists (60.3%)  exceed domestic tourists and  owe a large part of their representativeness to the British market, which accounts for 45.8% of the total volume of tourists who spend the night in hotels. In later positions are the Belgian (3.5%), Irish (2.9%) and Dutch (3%) markets.    The rest of the issuing markets do not exceed 1% representation in any case.

Confirmed reservations in  hotel management systems for the  last days of May already exceed 82%, showing a better rate of reservations than in 2023.

COSTA BLANCA

The Costa Blanca area  (not including Benidorm) continues to add occupancy points and stands at 80.9%, improving last year's data by 8.8 percentage points. This improvement is motivated by  4 and 3 star hotels, which have reached 82.9% and 80.3% respectively. Among the destinations in the area, Calpe stands out with 81.4% occupancy  (see the weekly evolution of hotel occupancy in the bar graph of the report).

The domestic market is positioned as the largest with 46.9%, leaving 53.1% to tourists of international origin. Of the latter, the  British market heads the table  with  12.4% , the  Belgian market (6.1%), the Norwegian market (5.1%), the French market (4.4%) and the Netherlands (4%).  In the following positions, with representation between 3% and 2%, are nationalities such as Irish and German.

The  end of May is expected to be optimistic since it already has 78.6% confirmed reservations , 5.7 points above what was expected for 2023 on the same dates.

PROVINCE OF VALENCIA

From May 1 to 15,  the province of Valencia  recorded an occupancy rate of  89.1%, a figure very in line with the latest records for the month of April and which improves the 2023 data by 4 percentage points. During this fortnight, the Valencia city destination continues unstoppable, exceeding 90% occupancy  (see the weekly evolution of hotel occupancy in the bar graph of the report).

National and international tourism are in harmony with 47.2% and 52.8% respectively. The German market leads the table with 6.1%, followed by the British, American and Italian markets, which are above 5%, and the French market with 4.5%.

The difference between domestic and international tourists is accentuated in Valencia city, where the national market occupies 31.3%. The most prominent nationalities in this point also vary with the American market in the lead (9%), followed at a short distance by the British (8.3%), German (8%) and in fourth position the Italian (7.4 %).  

Confirmed reservations in   hotel management programs for the second fortnight are at 84.7% in the case of the province and at 86.5% in Valencia , in both cases they are already above forecasts for the same period in 2023.

PROVINCE OF CASTELLÓN

The province of Castellón begins the month of May exceeding forecasts with 67% occupancy . This figure improves the latest April data by 3.4 points and leaves it just 2.7 percentage points behind the 2023 record (see the weekly evolution of hotel occupancy in the bar graph of the report).

National tourists no   longer give up part of the pie as they did in the first quarter and remain with 77% of the total volume. The remaining 23% belongs to international tourism, which is led by the French market with 8.3%, followed at a long distance by the Italian market with 2.1%, the Dutch market with 1.9%, Germany (1, 5%) and British (1.5%). 

For the days  from May 16 to 31, there is already a volume of confirmed reservations  of  66.4%,  but it is still expected that the data can be improved in the same way as has happened during this fortnight.