It is not that the attractive interior of the Valencian Community is rarely visited; buses loaded with tourists crowd the car parks of many towns in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante every day, but they arrive from the coastal cities and municipalities where their passengers stay. The massive offer of hotels and apartments at a moderate distance from the inland valleys and mountains is probably one of the reasons why Valencian rural accommodation does not attract clients in the same proportion as in other regions.
Because the official figures indicate a clear contrast in the relative importance that the different models of tourist offer have in the Valencian Community. With the most recent official data in hand, those of June of this year, it turns out that the Valencian Community is the first autonomous region in Spain in number of places in tourist apartments and the third in occupancy; the second in overnight stays in campsites, only behind Catalonia, which it surpasses in winter; and fifth in the national hotel ranking, both in terms of demand (number of overnight stays) and supply (number of beds), only behind Catalonia, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and Madrid.
However, the relative weight of Valencian rural accommodation in Spain as a whole is much lower than the rest of the modalities. It is already more modest in the offer, occupying the tenth national place in number of beds, but it is even more modest in demand, since the number of overnight stays registered in rural houses in June places the Community in 14th position in the ranking, only ahead of La Rioja and Murcia.
It is true that June is a time when rural houses in the north, in Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country or Navarra, are more competitive, but even in winter the highest place that Valencian rural accommodation has reached this year is eighth, in February and March.
June has been so far, with 1,050,617, the second month of the year in overnight stays in rural accommodation in Spain, and barely 33,439 occurred in Valencian establishments. The Balearic Islands lead the ranking, with approximately 200,000, followed by Castilla y León (146,000); Andalusia (125 thousand) and Catalonia (108 thousand); Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias and Cantabria more than double the Valencian figures; Aragon, the Basque Country, Extremadura, Galicia, Navarra and rural Madrid are also above.
The most successful month for rural tourism was April, with 1,166,407 overnight stays throughout Spain, 34,434 corresponding to the Valencian Community, somewhat better placed in the ranking (position 12), ahead of the Canary Islands, Galicia, Madrid, La Rioja and Murcia.
However, in June there were more places available (6,290), and the number of employees employed in Valencian rural accommodation was the highest of the year, 1,091 people. In all of Spain, 28,220 employees work, which represents a tenth of the staff working in conventional hotels (281,000), a twentieth in the case of Valencia, where hotels employ 19,786 workers.
Meanwhile, the campsites employ 1,860 Valencians (12,173 in the whole of Spain) and the tourist apartments 4,321 (36,046 in the whole country).