Hotel occupancy increased in January

Gran Canaria saw 78.7% occupancy

Overnight stays in hotels in Spain increased 3.5% in January, compared to the same time last year.

According to figures released by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) there were 12.6 million overnight stays in hotel establishments during January, showing a 3.5% increase.

Overnight stays decreased 0.2% for residents, whereas non-residents experienced an increase of 6.1%. The average stay increased 1.0% as compared with January 2011, standing at 3.1 nights per guest.

Looking at the indicators on profitability in the hotel sector, invoicing per occupied room reached an average value of 68.3 euros, and income per available room stood at 28.9 euros. In terms of occupancy, 37.4% of the available bed spaces were filled in January, indicating a 3.3% increase as compared with the same month in the previous year. The weekend occupancy rate by bed spaces stood at 40.0%, with an increase of 2.2%.

The Germans seem to love Spain the most accounting for 27.3% of the total overnight stays, an interannual increase of 3.7%. The United Kingdom was in second place with 20.1%, registering a 0.8% increase.

Overnight stays of guests from Italy, Sweden and France registered interannual rates of –5.5%, 25.7% and 10.2%, respectively.

The destinations attracting the most foreign visitors were the Canaries where overnight stays by non-residents increased 7.7% over January 2011. Cataluña registered an interannual rate of 1.1%, with Andalucía showing an increase of 14.7%.

Guests resident in Spain chose Andalucía, Madrid and Cataluña for their hotel stays. The regions saw interannual rates of -5.4%, 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively.

By bed spaces the Canaries recorded the highest rate with 71.3% occupancy. Of the islands Gran Canaria was the busiest recording 78.7% occupancy.

Madrid followed far behind the Canaries with 41.0%, while Valencia recorded 35.3% occupancy.

Prices increased in January in hotels with four-gold-stars and one-gold-star (both with 1.6% in the interannual rate), in three- and two-silver-star hotels (0.6%) and in one-silver-star hotels (0.8%).

Conversely, five-, three- and two-gold-star hotels recorded interannual decreases of 0.7%, 1.8% and 2.5%, respectively.

The average invoicing by hotels per occupied room (ADR) in January was 68.3 euros, indicating an increase of 0.2 euros as compared with the same month in 2011. In turn, income per available room (RevPAR), conditioned by the occupancy registered in the hotel establishments, reached 28.9 euros, with an increase of 1.0 euros as compared with January 2011.

By category, the average invoicing was 139.2 euros for five-star hotels, 72.9 euros for fourstar hotels and 53.2 euros for three-star hotels. Income per available room for these same categories was 65.6, 37.9 and 24.3 euros, respectively.

You can download the full report here: Hotel Tourism Short Term Trends January 2012

Fitch expects more downgrades for Euro Zone

More downgrades coming

Ratings agency Fitch has said it expects its ratings review of six euro zone states to result in downgrades of one to two notches in most of those countries at the end of January.

The six euro zone states that were put on negative watch are Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland and Cyprus.

At the time Fitch told the euro zone leaders that it thought a comprehensive solution to the crisis was beyond reach.

Standard & Poor have already cut ratings on some euro zone states earlier this month.

At a Fitch conference in Madrid on Thursday senior director Ed Parker said of Spain that the review would recognise recent efforts taken by the government to cut costs and implement reforms but added that “there are continuing problems with the public finances and bank assets and the labour market is dysfunctional.”

Mr Parker also questioned the governments ability to  ”control the spending of the autonomous communities.” and warned that, although chances are low, the possibility of a complete breakdown of the euro zone in 2012 could not be ruled out.

On Thursday, however, Spain sold more long-term debt than was initially hoped for meaning Madrid has already covered 19% of it’s funding requirements for 2012.

It also showed that some markets have largely ignored last week’s eurozone rating downgrades from Standard & Poor’s, an impression backed up by a strong bond sale in Paris in which France raised almost 9.5 billion euros.

Spain’s 10-year bond offering raised more than 3 billion euros, exceeding the 4.5 billion target, meaning the Treasury sold a total of 6.6 billion euros (£5.5 billion) of bonds which mature in 2016, 2019, and 2022.