Tourism bounce on ice as Spanish hotel bookings lag

Bookings surged to over 4m April but were still 85% below April 2019's levels, Spain's National Statistics Institute data shows

Overall reservations for the first four months of the year were 71% below the equivalent period last year, as the first restrictions on travel were not introduced until mid-March 2020.

The number of nights booked by tourists in Spanish hotels surged to just over 4m in April from zero a year earlier when a strict Covid lockdown paralysed the travel sector and forced most to stay at home.

But, despite the jump, the bookings were still 85% below April 2019's levels, Spain's National Statistics Institute data showed, underscoring the scale of the blow dealt by the pandemic.