The cold statistics indicate that the Valencian Community was the preferred destination in February among tourists staying in campsites, with 670,086 overnight stays, representing an increase of 8.4% in the annual rate. It also reached the highest degree of occupancy, with 71.3% of the plots offered.
By tourist area, the Costa Blanca was the preferred destination, with 334,190 overnight stays and the highest occupancy rate, with 86.3% of the plots offered. The tourist spots with the most overnight stays were Benidorm, Cartagena and Vélez-Málaga.
But the analysis of the data reveals essential differences between the data for the Valencian Community and the rest (except for Murcia, which shares the Valencian “model” with fewer establishments). Why with fewer travelers than Andalusia and Catalonia, which exceeded 60,000? while the Valencian Community accommodated some 48,000, the latter totaled 670,000 overnight stays, almost double that of Andalusia (380,000) and five times more than Catalonia (138,000)?
The answer is in the average stay. The time that customers spent in Spanish campsites in February, a figure that can be extrapolated to the winter as a whole, was 6.44 days; in the Valencian Community it reached 13.97, double (17.74 in Murcia). But it is that in the province of Alicante, the one that registers the most overnight stays in Spain, the average exceeded 20 days. And in Benidorm, the most demanded tourist destination, it borders on the entire month: 28 days.
The explanation is provided by Sergio Gómez, president of the Provincial Association of Campsites in Alicante. “We have broken seasonality, and while other areas are open mainly from Easter to Halloween, there is a natural demand for retired European campers who spend between three and five months.” He explains that “November and December are good months for us, but January, February and March we are all practically one hundred percent occupied.”
This is a striking characteristic of the Valencian market, whose campsites in February registered an occupancy of 70% (Benidorm exceeded 90%), when the Spanish average does not even reach 50%. This seasonal break means that the sector can maintain employment throughout the year. In fact, in February, almost a third of the 3,500 existing employees in the entire national sector -1,098- worked in establishments in the Valencian Community.
Occupancy is so high at this time that a local client who wants to go to a campsite in Alicante for the weekend has a difficult time, because they are taken over by European retirees who spend long periods of time. In fact, while some 16,000 Spaniards spent some 70,000 nights overnight -just over 4 days on average-, the 31,500 totaled almost 600,000, that is, almost 20 days.
Which means, as Sergio Gómez explains, that many Europeans choose to spend the cold winter months in their caravans or in the comfortable cabins that Valencian campsites have today. At a price of around 15 or 20 euros per day, compared to the 50 that those same plots cost in summer, with services such as spa, entertainment, swimming pools, games, varied hospitality…
In Spain as a whole, 56% of the clients were Spanish, but they only accounted for 26% of the overnight stays. Among the foreigners, the Germans were the clear majority, approximately a third (35.6%), followed by the British (21.17%), the Dutch (15.10%) and the French (10.91%).
The proportion changes in the Valencian Community, where the British share first place almost equally with the Germans, around 25.5 for each, followed by the Dutch, French and Scandinavians. Gómez explains that “until Brexit, the British were 40%, but when they leave the EU they cannot spend more than three months here, and many before that they spent the whole winter.”
A curious circumstance is that the cheapening of flights has meant that many motorhome owners, instead of coming and going with them, leave them parked for months in the numerous car parks that exist in the vicinity of the airport. And the only kilometers they do with them are those that separate El Altet from their plots in Crevillent, Guardamar, Benidorm or that town where they have rented the plot.
In Spain as a whole, overnight stays in campsites registered an increase of 6% in February compared to the same month in 2022. Those of residents fell by 4.3%, while those of non-residents increased by 10.2%.
For Easter, taking into account that sunny weather is expected, the campsites in the Valencian Community hope to be full. “We could be facing an excellent Easter Week for the sector, which is essential for other sectors related to the tourist destination, such as restaurants, shops or leisure. In addition, it will help us to take the pulse of the next summer campaign â€, assures Gómez.
