01/10/2013 00:00
TW
0
PALMA THE Balearics was the Spanish region with the highest level of hotel occupation in August, with 89.4 percent of its places occupied, almost three percentage points less than during the same month last year.

During August 2006 the level of occupation reached 92.2 percent, according to figures published yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

In addition to this, the islands were also the region which recorded the highest number of overnight stays (9.5 million), which was also a reduction (2.1 percent) on the amount recorded in August 2006. The average stay also fell from 6.54 to 6.51 days.

The Balearics was the main Spanish destination chosen by foreigners, 39.5 percent of the national total, with 8.2 million overnight stays which was some 0.3 percent more than in August 2006.

The islands were followed by Catalonia, with an interannual figure of 4.1 percent, and the Canary Islands with a figure of minus 0.9 percent.
The island of Minorca was the second Spanish tourist area, only behind the Costa de la Luz in Huelva, with the most occupation in August, with 90.26 percent of its places occupied, 3.4 percentage points more than in August 2006.

This was followed by Majorca with 90.08 percent of its hotel places occupied, 1.98 percentage points less than in the same month a year ago.
Also on Minorca a great increase was recorded in the average stay, from 5.72 days in 2006 to 7.15 days this year, while on Majorca there was a slight decrease in this figure, from 6.66 days to 6.55 days.

In total, Majorcan hotels recorded 7.03 million overnight stays, some 1.5 percent less than in August 2006.
The hotels on Ibiza and Formentera also recorded a decrease of 5.9 percent in the number of overnight stays (1.6 million), while on Minorca the number of overnight stays fell by three percent to 772'229.

Formentera and Calvia were the first and fourth tourist areas with the highest level of occupation in August, with figures of 97.9 and 96.9 percent respectively.

Palma was, after Barcelona, the tourist area with the highest number of overnight stays, with 1.16 million, an occupation of 87.9 percent and an average stay of 5.6 days.

According to the INE, hotel prices increased by 5.6 percent in the Balearics in August, 1.7 percentage points above the national average, and there was a large increase in hotel income per occupied room in the Balearics (8.6 percent), the highest increase in Spain.