Spain's hotel industry sees economic recovery in 2015

Spain's hotel industry sees 2015 with optimism due to a recovery in domestic demand, Spanish newspaper Expansion reported on Monday.

Nowadays, apart from the international arrivals, the sector sees a recovery in domestic demand. "Domestic market grew by 20 percent in Easter," Expansion reported citing Joan Molas, president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT).

Predictions said the Spanish demand will rise by 10 percent this summer when compared with the same period of a year earlier, with occupancy rising by 5 percent and prices rising by 2.5 percent on average.

That is the case of the Spanish firm, RIU Hotels & Resorts, where Spanish demand has increased by 18 percent when compared with 2014 and prices have increased by 3 percent in the main Spanish destinations, Expansion reported.

Spain's Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV) expects an 8 percent rise in trips enjoyed by Spaniards with a budget of between 400 euros and 1,000 euros to pay between five and 15 days of holidays.

The tourist sector was able to cope with the financial crisis and five years of economic recession in the country, hitting last year a record high in the number of international arrivals when receiving 64.99 million international visitors.

The sector said July was a good month and they expect August to break a record high in occupation. In 2015, Spain also expects to break a record high in the number of tourists. According to Spain's Minister of Tourism, Jose Manuel Soria, they expect to surpass last year's figure "in some millions."

Spain received a total of 29.2 million international tourists in the first six months of the year and according to Soria the figure was "the best in history" until June. Endit