SPAIN'S non-hotel sector has grown mostly due to foreign tourists visiting the country.
According to data published on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), non-hotel overnight stays in Andalucia in January totaled 757,636, an increase of 221% over the same period in 2021, when they totaled 235,672.
In January, overnight stays in non-hotel tourist accommodation in Spain surpassed 4.7 million, a figure that is more than three times greater than the same month in 2021 (+231%).
The rise was primarily due to international visitors' fourfold increase in overnight stays. While the number of Spaniards staying in this form of accommodation climbed by nearly threefold, the number of foreign nationals visiting increased by almost threefold (316.5 percent).
When hotel stays are factored in, overnight stays in Spanish tourist accommodation nearly tripled in January, rising 292.3 percent from the same month in 2021. This represents a paltry 61.3 percent increase over non-hotel stays, demonstrating that campsites and other forms of non-hotel lodging are rapidly gaining popularity.
For the moment, hotel and non-hotel stays by Spaniards increased by 155.8%. In contrast, overnight stays by persons travelling on holiday from other countries increased by 493.4 percent, nearly six times higher than in January last year.
