Spain records 78% drop in September hotel bookings

Spain has reportedly recorded 78% drop in the number of nights booked by the tourists in hotels in September compared to same month last year amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The September data was worse than the 64% fall recorded in August, the Reuters reported.

The country, which came out from a stringent coronavirus lockdown in June, is said to have been experiencing a slight momentum in the tourist activities.

According to data from the INE national statistics office, the overall hotel bookings in the first nine months of the year plummeted 71% compared to same period last year.

In September, the northern regions of Cantabria and Asturias reportedly marked highest levels of hotel occupation in the country, at 37% and 35%, respectively.

Tourism is said to contribute around 12% of Spain’s economy. The country has been greatly affected by travel ban and lockdown restrictions placed across the globe in the wake of the pandemic.

With the removal of warnings against travel to the Canary Islands by England and Germany last week, the tourism activity is again expected to gather momentum in Spain during the upcoming winter season.

Meanwhile, the country is facing a second wave of Covid-19 cases.

A 15-days long national state of emergency and a curfew was declared by the Spanish government yesterday in a bid to bring the outbreak of the coronavirus under control.

The government has reportedly left out Canary Islands from the nationwide curfew.