The average spending of travellers and the length of stay have increased this summer in Spain respectively by 21% and 5% compared to the summer season of 2021. This is according to research by booking platform Weekendesk.
These figures underline that this summer is ‘without a doubt’ the summer of recovery, after the ‘hard’ restrictions on travel, restaurants and leisure facilities that the pandemic brought.
Top three autonomous communities
In terms of autonomous communities, the top three with the highest average spend are;
- Valencian Community (€506)
- Catalonia (€359)
- Andalucia (€355)
Taking advantage of last-minute offers
In terms of bookings, almost 32% of those surveyed decided to book their holiday more than a month in advance. That is 10% more compared to 2019 and 2021. And although, ‘last minute’ demand was high, a slight decrease can be seen compared to previous years: 12.5% decided this year to wait to book their holiday until the last minute, while in previous years this figure ranged from 19.4% to 19.9%.
In this context, the operational director of Weekendesk.es, Bridgitte Hidalgo, pointed out that, ‘although most bookings for this summer have been made in advance, many have wanted to take advantage of last minute offers to stretch the summer as long as possible and it is in these cases that supply has lagged behind demand’.
Theme travel a post-pandemic trend
There is some change in the demand for travel after the pandemic. Weekendesk sees thematic packages as a new post-pandemic trend.
Gastronomic experiences and wellness lead the ranking. Compared to 2019, the number of bookings for gastronomic experiences increased by a whopping 23%. As for summer 2021, the data continues to rise, with the ‘gastronomy’ category up 8% and the ‘wellness’ category up 13%.
Curious to know what the favourite places in Spain are according to domestic and foreign tourists? Read more here.
