The restaurant closed 2023 with a “stable” evolution in online reservations compared to the previous year, a consequence of the stabilization of the sector that comes after several years of growth in which increases in reservations of up to 16% have been recorded in 2022 .

The data, taken from the annual balance prepared by the online reservation platform TheFork (ElTenedor) and published this Wednesday, point to a “stabilization” of the restaurant sector after the pandemic.

By cities, the platform has highlighted five regions that have experienced greater growth in their reservations compared to the previous year: Menorca, with 50% more reservations, Cantabria, with 23%, Ibiza and Formentera, with 19% and Pontevedra, with 18%.

In addition, these five cities are followed “very closely” by Granada, with a 14% increase in reservations and the Canary Islands, with 13% more. Despite the growth of these areas, Madrid, Barcelona, ??Valencia, Seville and Palma de Mallorca continue to lead the list of cities where the highest number of reservations were registered in 2023.

During the summer season, specifically in the months of July and August, online reservations made by international tourists have had a “great weight”, since they have accounted for 26% of the total; By nationality, the diners who made them came from Italy (19%), the United Kingdom (17%) and France (14%).

And the cities preferred by tourists have been Barcelona, ??with 26% of reservations, Madrid, with 12%, and Valencia, with 5%. In the report, the booking platform has detailed that, throughout the year, they have recorded an average of 3.7% cancellations without warning, while the rest of the market has reached 5%, according to company data .

For TheFork, this figure maintains the “downward trend” in their fight against this “bad practice” that they try to tackle with triple reservation confirmation, email reminders and guarantee via credit card or bank fingerprint.

In the gastronomic field, the report has highlighted Mediterranean food as the favorite option of consumers, with 26%, followed by Japanese, Spanish and Italian.

Dinners are the moment with the highest demand for reservations, 54% of the total and, taking into account the advance notice, the platform has detailed that 62% of them were made with less than 24 hours, 16% with less than one hour and 11%, between 24 and 48 hours.