Spain has more than 320.000 tourist flats throughout the country. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), specifically mentioned that there were 321.000 tourist flats or holiday rental apartments in our national territory. In all, they account for 1.3% of residential real estate in Spain as the report which was published last December by INE shows, after having observed an experimental study during the summer. The facts and figures regarding tourist flats come to light in a specially delicate time for this sector because the health crisis we are living thorough has almost completely brought tourism to a standstill, with the subsequent damage for this kind of business. In this blog some weeks ago, we wrote an article about the uncertain future of tourist lodgings. In that article, we talked about the drop of tourist lodgings with regard to 2019 and how an important number of this kind of lodgings had gone back to traditional rental. The official figures that we now know allow us to get an idea of what this type of housing represents in our real estate sector. It is important to stress the fact that these figures show the number of tourist flats nationwide. As we will now see, tourist flats carry more or less weight depending on the area where they are located. For instance, the coastal areas bring together 76,8% of national tourist lodgings in contrast to 23,2% of those located in the interior of the country.

GREAT DIFFERENCES DEPENDING ON THE AREA

At first glance, we may think that the percentage of tourist lodgings in Spain is very low. However, we must bear in mind that it varies significantly not only depending on the area but also on the city. The three communities in Spain that have the highest number of tourist lodgings are Andalusia (with 67.392), Catalonia (with 63.199), and the Community of Valencia (with 54.638). If we look at the provinces, the two that have the highest numbers of tourist flats are Alicante (with 35.716) and Málaga (with 34.567). On the contrary, the provinces with the least number of them are Palencia (145), Soria (320) and Álava (332). Nonetheless, if we analyze cities then, by far, the two cities which have the most are Barcelona (with 17.280) and Madrid (with 16.894). They are followed, at long distance, by Valencia (6.899) which is in third place. These facts and figures help us to get an idea of the importance of this type of property in our two great cities. It is interesting to note that Marbella, which is very near Valencia, is the fourth city in Spain with the highest number of tourist lodgings (6.266).

MADRID: THE SOUGHT-AFTER CITY CENTRE

If we look at Madrid and Barcelona, tourist flats account for 1,1% and 2,1% of total housing respectively. However, it attracts our attention how in Madrid these figures change a lot if we analyze exclusively the centre of the city. In the city centre, tourist flats account for nothing less than 8,7% of total housing. It is apparently clear that the city centre is the area most in demand by users of this type of housing. Nevertheless, the INE warns that this report does still not reflect the impact of the pandemic on tourist lodgings. However, in next reports these facts and figures will be reflected and we will be on the lookout to see the change.