FILE PHOTO: A woman rides a scooter past a closed hotel at Barrio Gotico (Gothic Quarter), after Catalonia’s government imposed new restrictions in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Barcelona, Spain October 23, 2020. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
November 27, 2020
MADRID (Reuters) – The number of hotels for sale in Spain surged by 19% in October compared to March, with most of those on offer in holiday hotspots, leading property portal Idealista said on Friday.
Spain’s economy is heavily hospitality dependent and lockdowns to contain the coronavirus have hit hard.
In the Balearic Islands, the number of hotels on sale jumped 84% over the period, while for Andalusia the increase was 45%. Overall, 557 hotels were on sale in the country as of October, 101 of them in Catalonia, Idealista said.
Almost a third of Spanish hotels were closed in October, according to data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute.
Registered hotel bookings were 83% lower last month than the same period last year, official data showed earlier this week.
(Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette, Editing by Inti Landauro)
