Spanish Hotel Market: Secondary Cities

Following the specific reports on the Spanish and Portuguese hotel markets, in which the most relevant areas or cities for the tourism industry are analysed, Christie & Co now presents a specific study on those Spanish cities that, although they’re not part of the yearly report on the “Most Competitive Cities” they show a clear potential regarding hotel profitability.

According to the Barometer of Profitability and Employment of Spanish Tourist Destinations 2017 published by Exceltur, Christie & Co has considered those cities that, secondary to the most competitive urban destinations (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, San Sebastián, Málaga and Bilbao) have obtained higher RevPAR figures in 2017, a greater variation 2016-2017 and a greater accumulated growth since 2015. As a result, the cities that are included in this new report are: Santander, Alicante, Córdoba, Granada, Toledo, Santiago de Compostela and Valladolid.

The results of our analysis show the strength of these destinations and reflect an interesting evolution on the hotel segment in all of them over the last few years. Moreover, they recorded more than 10 million overnight stays in 2017, which represents a 3.2% of the total overnight stays registered in the whole country. Furthermore, the seven analysed cities received almost six million tourist arrivals in 2017 (+3% vs 2016), what represents around the 5.79% of tourist arrivals in Spain in 2017.

Among all the cities analysed, Santander ranks as the city with the highest average price (ADR), reaching 86 euros, followed by Alicante (77 euros) and Córdoba (71 euros). Lastly, we find Valladolid which, despite of standing out for its RevPAR levels growth (increase of 19.3% in 2017 with respect to 2016), has an average price of only 61 euros, the lowest of all cities in the report. Thus, in terms of RevPAR levels, the list is headed by Santander and Alicante, both with 56 euros, followed by Córdoba and Granada, with 47 euros each.

In terms of occupation, Alicante is the city with the highest percentage, with 73% in 2017 (+7.2% vs 2016), followed by Granada (71%) and Córdoba (67%). Santiago de Compostela, on the other hand, registers the lowest occupation levels (59%), despite being the second of the cities analysed with the highest hotel offer (148 hotels in 2017), second only to Granada (171 hotels in 2017).

Xavier Batlle, Associate Director and Responsible of the Consultancy Division in Spain & Portugal, comments: “the recovery of domestic tourism as well as the growth of international tourism, have generated a profitability increase for all secondary destinations analysed. This, added to its good accessibility and excellent demand generators, has made them an attractive destination both for investment and development”.

To read or upload the report, click here