The total number of tourist apartments grew 41% in 2007.
Rural tourism accommodation increased by 17% last year, while hotels did so by 3.9%, according to the Board
Getting to know Ávila by staying in a tourist apartment is increasingly fashionable. This is at least endorsed by the latest data on tourist establishments offered by the Junta de Castilla y León through its Ministry of Culture and Tourism, according to which the number of apartments increased in Ávila in 2007 by 41.7%, when going from the 12 establishments of this type with which there were in 2006, to the 17 that there were last year.
This is, without a doubt, the most striking increase in terms of tourist establishments in Avila. But it is by no means the only figure that increased last year, as rural tourism accommodation available in the province also increased. In this case, the increase is more discreet (13.8%), with 76 new rural houses being created, and going from the 552 registered in 2006 to the 628 registered last year.
The list of increases continues with tourism companies, which went from 39 in 2006 to 42 last year, representing an increase of 7.7% in this type of business..
With regard to the increase in hotel accommodations in Ávila, the figure reached 6.2%, going from the 130 hotels that were operating in 2006 to 138 last year.
Finally, neither travel agencies nor tourist camps suffered changes last year. In fact, in the first case, the 28 agencies operating in the province were maintained and in the second, the 15 tourist camps.
And this increase in the number of tourist establishments in Ávila was translated, how could it be otherwise, in an increase in the number of available places. In this case, the greatest increase also came from the hand of rural tourism accommodation, which registered an increase of 17.1%, going from the 4,066 places available in 2006 to 4,760 in 2007.
And in general, the number of tourist establishments in Castilla y León in December 2007 increased in all categories with respect to December 2006: travel agencies, by 6.9%; tourism companies, 10.2%; hotel accommodations, 0.9%; rural tourism accommodation, 12%; tourist apartments by 34.8%; cafeterias, 3.2%; and restaurants, 3.4%. Only tourist camps decreased by 2.5%.
Regarding the capacity of these establishments, a year-on-year increase was observed in the hotel accommodation categories (1.6%); rural tourism (13.5%); cafeterias (3.8%); and restaurants (4.7%). On the other hand, the number of places was reduced in tourist camps (by 1.9%) due to the decrease in the number of establishments.