ARCHIVED - Murcia campsites record an average stay of 5.25 days, and are full all of August

The region's campsites regain their glory with a record summer in the return of foreign tourists

Camping tourism during summer has brought families and couples thronging to the Murcia Region for their holidays.

The return to normality after the pandemic has made visitors from other countries put their faith in Murcia again as a top camping and motorhome holiday destination and in the month of July alone, 20% of those who stayed in campsites were from outside Spain.

In August, most of the businesses dedicated to receiving campers had their "full" signs showing for many days. The president of the Murcian Association of Campsites, Alfonso Morenilla, stressed that in summer there is a change in trend and most of the people in these campsites are Spanish families, who this year have returned to travel en masse to the Region. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reflects this in its July data, since its study highlights that 25,064 visitors were registered in these venues, of which 20,500 were Spanish nationals. The number of overnight stays amounted to 131,687, with an average stay of 5.25 days.

But the improvement has already been noticed throughout the year. During the first half of 2022, the Region obtained the best record of campers for the period from January to June from available data, 62,109, 2.5% more than those of the year 2019, before the pandemic.

These travellers generated 562,185 overnight stays, which represents an increase of 6.1% compared to 2019, and also represents the best data for the January-June period of the historical records.

Regarding the main markets, during the last year of normality, Germany was the main foreign country sending campers to the Region, with 267,704 overnight stays, which represents 34% of the total, followed by the United Kingdom, with 221,329 overnight stays and a weight of 28%. France, for its part, was the third source market of foreign tourism to the Region with 120,883 overnight stays, which represented a share of 15%.

Country retreats and hostels also recover their tourist numbers

It's not only campsites who are boasting of having had a good summer. The set of non-hotel accommodation in the Region of Murcia (campsites, apartments, rural tourism accommodation and hostels) registered a total of 58,337 travellers and 322,632 overnight stays last July, according to the INE.

In tourist apartments, the number of visitors in July was 27,007 (5,722 from outside Spain) and 160,612 overnight stays, with an average stay of 5.95 days. In rural tourism accommodation in the Region, 3,641 travellers were recorded, 281 from other countries, and a total of 16,222 overnight stays with an average stay of 4.46 days, the highest figure of all the autonomous regions. In August occupancy exceeded 80%.

Meanwhile, in the hostels of the Region a total of 2,625 visitors were registered, of which 452 were foreigners, while the number of overnight stays reached 12,498, with an average stay of 5.38 days.

The staff employed in the 2,671 tourist apartments in the Region of Murcia last month amounted to 357 people. In addition, the occupancy rate by beds (11,340 in total according to estimates) stood at 45.38% and by apartments at 67.2%, a percentage higher than the national average (66.4%).

Image: Archive