He tourism registers a positive evolution in Saragossa. The city has closed the year 2024 with a 10% growth in the number of visitors with 1,289,000 people who chose the capital for cultural and leisure tourism, among other options. It is a “double-digit” growth, which exceeds the average for Spain as a whole, where there has been an increase of 3.5%.
They are the first balance sheet data for the year 2024 within which there is also an increase in overnight stays – one of Zaragoza’s pending issues -, which have risen 7% to exceed two million overnight stays last year. Furthermore, 31% of them correspond to international visitors.
Within these global data, the christmas campaign has had a specific weight. In just three weeks, from the turning on of the Christmas lights to the celebration of Three Kings’ Day, the city has recorded a impact of 75,774,814 euros thanks to 604,000 tourist visits recorded in this period.
A figure that represents an increase of 15% compared to the same period in 2023 in terms of tourist visits, according to Zaragoza Tourism data provided by the Zaragoza City Council. Of the economic amount, more than 33 million corresponds to direct spending, while just over 21 million is indirect spending. The average expense was 107 euros if you stayed overnightdropping to 55 euros if you have not stayed in the city.
“It is a record Christmas and a Christmas of impact,” said Natalia Chueca, mayor of Zaragoza, during the presentation of the balance sheet, an event in which she positively valued the figures recorded because by growing in year-on-year terms, apart from making progress in some handicaps of the city in tourism matters such as the need to increase overnight stays and the average stay.
Precisely, this parameter has experienced a positive evolution. Specifically, hotel occupancy has been 54.7% at Christmas, that is, 15% more than in 2023. In total, there have been more than 259,000 overnight stays for the more than 137,000 tourists who stayed a few days in Zaragoza.
The average stay has been two days and, preferably, three-star accommodation or apartments or homes for tourist use have been chosen. Precisely, in this last non-hotel segment, occupancy has risen to 76.8%.
The cInquiries to tourist offices Municipal councils have also increased by 42%, adding a total of 7,634, with 50% more Spaniards – around 5,800 – and 21% more foreigners (more than 1,800). Among visitors, the fact that six out of ten tourists are women stands out, in addition to tourists with university studies also predominating. Another key fact is that 71% are new visitorsThat is, they have come to Zaragoza to visit it for the first time, “which reflects the result of selling Zaragoza in other cities” through the different promotional actions.
Tourists, most of whom have arrived by train, have come to Zaragoza during Christmas to see the light show and Christmas illumination, which has been one of the main attractions, followed by the Plaza del Pilar, which has been visited by 870,000 people.
Parque Grande has also been another focus of attraction. In this enclave, 84,000 tickets have been registered in the gourmet exhibition, a figure that is multiplied by 10 if we take into account the influx of people who have simply visited it and have not consumed or bought a ticket. The Three Kings Parade, which had been renewed this year, has attracted more than 200,000 people. In total, The nearly 600 events organized by the Zaragoza City Council have brought together two million people.
These are figures to which are added about 84 million euros linked to congress tourismwhich allows visits to the city to be deseasonalized. “We have managed to ensure that Zaragoza attracts interest in 2024 and, in 2025, it will continue to be a demand for Zaragoza to have a better local economy,” added Chueca.
In fact, the Zaragoza City Council is already working on upcoming sporting and cultural events to deseasonalize tourism beyond the main events such as Christmas, Easter or the Pilar Festival, among others.
And, to achieve this, we will also continue working on the external projection of Zaragoza so that international tourism continues to increase where the focus is on Asia, France and Latin America.
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