Balearic hotel prices on the march last month

HOTEL prices rose in the Balearics by 1.7 percent in March this year in relation to the same month in 2003.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) confirmed yesterday that this figure is in excess of the national average price increase of 1.2 percent.
However, earnings in the hotel industry on the Islands grew in March by 8.9 percent, well above the 3.5 percent national average increase. It is also the highest increase registered in the Islands so far this year, as January and February earnings increased by 6.5 and 8.5 percent respectively. In Spain, March hotel prices broke away from the downward trend it had been following since December, by registering an increase of 1.2 percent with respect to the same month of the previous year. This new acceleration climbed to 0.4 points over and above figures for February, although it remained 0.8 points less than those recorded for March 2002. Hotels of all categories increased their prices in March, but it was the 5-star and 4-star establishments which kept price hikes at a moderate level at 0.4 and 0.5 percent respectively. Hotels of 2-star and 3-star ratings were those where the price increase was most marked in March, 8.4 percent in respect of the same month the previous year. Although single-star rated hotels registered a 6.1 percent increase, it was within this category that the highest growth of income, 3.8 percent, was established in March; 5-star hotels registered a 3.3 percent rise in income; and 2-star hotels, 3 percent more. It was only 4-star category hotels that noted a fall of 0.1 percent in income.