The numbers of travelers who visit the Valencian Community and of tourists who stay overnight in the hotels of its different destinations are close to those registered in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic broke out, causing a massive closure and the consequent crisis. And companies in the sector react by making investments, especially in urban locations such as Valencia and Alicante.
Specifically, the Valencian capital has increased its number of establishments by 25% compared to 2019, reaching 179 open hotels, which has led to a similar increase (23.8%) in the personnel employed in its operation, which as of June of 2023 it was 2,729 people.
Not in such a proportion, but the number of overnight stays has also grown significantly (8.2%), up to 2,215,806 in the first half of this year, of which 1.3 million were foreigners. And that the increase in the number of hotels has only increased the number of existing beds in Valencia by 3.3%, which is today 18,691.
In the first half of the year, Valencia registered the fourth highest occupancy rate in mainland Spain (in the Top-20, the first 8 are Canary Islands destinations), with an average of 77.8; ahead are Benalmádena, Málaga and Barcelona, ??and Benidorm immediately behind, with 77.3%.
Of course, Benidorm, which has hardly changed its number of hotels (115) and has barely increased its number of beds by 4%, offers more than twice as many beds as the capital, 40,500, although it is still 4 percentage points below the number of record overnight stays in 2019, standing at some 4.8 million hotel nights, of which 2.7 are enjoyed by foreign travelers. And that having increased the number of employees (5,558 people) by more than 9%. Of course, the average length of stay of its clients (4.7 days) doubles that of Valencia and Alicante.
In proportion, the Community destination that has increased its number of hotels the most is the city of Alicante, which today has almost 40% more than in 2019, 96 establishments in total. This has allowed it to increase its hotel beds by 9.5%, to 8,877, and employ 1,092 people, which is 25.7% more than in 2019. However, the number of overnight stays in the first semester is almost one point lower than the same period in 2019, with 917,625. And there has been a change in the origin of these travelers, because now there are more foreigners (567,000) and before there were nationals.