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How seasonal are European hotels: how much of the year's business falls in summer, how many hotels close in winter, and how far do staff and prices swing?

In Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and Greece about 40% of a year's hotel nights fall in July and August, against 25.5% in the EU. Spain had 550,715 hotel rooms open in January against 910,814 in August, only 133 of 1,381 Balearic hotels open in winter, and 62% of Greek hotels run seasonally, open 5.5–6.4 months a year.

Eurostat tour_occ_nim (36 countries, hotels NACE I55.1, 2025), INE Spain hotel occupancy survey (2025–2026), Ibestat, INE Portugal, Istat Annuario 2024 (2023 data), Emilia-Romagna Region tourism statistics (2023), ITEP annual hotel survey for the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (n=621, 2025) · verified as of

Share of a year's hotel nights spent in July and August, 2025 (%)

Nights spent in hotels in July plus August, divided by the year's total. If demand were spread evenly, two months would hold about 17% of nights (our calculation, 2/12). The Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean are the most summer-dependent; Benelux and Germany the least.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Bulgaria43.2%highest in this set2025ec.europa.eu
Albania41.4%2025ec.europa.eu
Montenegro40.4%2025ec.europa.eu
Croatia38.7%2025ec.europa.eu
Greece38.2%2025ec.europa.eu
Romania32.2%2025ec.europa.eu
Italy29.9%2025ec.europa.eu
Cyprus29.6%2025ec.europa.eu
Türkiye29.2%2025ec.europa.eu
EU2725.5%benchmark2025ec.europa.eu
Spain25.4%national average hides island and coastal extremes, see below2025ec.europa.eu
Portugal24.0%2025ec.europa.eu
Austria22.7%two seasons: summer and ski2025ec.europa.eu
France22.1%2025ec.europa.eu
Germany20.3%2025ec.europa.eu
Belgium19.8%lowest in this set2025ec.europa.eu

How much of the hotel stock closes in winter

Only Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece publish what is actually open month by month. In the Balearics and on Rimini's coast most hotels are seasonal businesses; Lisbon and Madeira stay open all year.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Spain — hotel rooms open in August910,814all categories, season peakAug 2026ine.es
Spain — hotel rooms open in January550,715all categories, season low · about 40% fewer than in August (our calculation)Jan 2026ine.es
Spain — share of August hotel rooms in coastal zones that close for winter39.8%zones where January open rooms are under half of AugustAug 2026ine.es
Balearic Islands — hotels open in August1,381estimated open establishmentsAug 2025ine.es
Balearic Islands — hotels open in January133estimated open establishments · fewer than one in ten of the August count (our calculation)Jan 2025ine.es
Balearic Islands — share of August room stock open in January6.18%hotels and hostalsJan 2026ibestat.es
Mallorca — share of existing hotel bed-places open in January6.36%Jan 2025ibestat.es
Ibiza and Formentera — share of existing hotel bed-places open in January3.52%Jan 2025ibestat.es
Menorca — share of existing hotel bed-places open in January2.01%Jan 2025ibestat.es
Algarve — open bed capacity in January as a share of August59.7%tourist accommodation, summer resort regionJan 2025ine.pt
Madeira — open bed capacity in January as a share of August88.4%year-round resort regionJan 2025ine.pt
Greater Lisbon — open bed capacity in January as a share of August93.9%cityJan 2025ine.pt
Rimini province — seasonal (not year-round) hotels1,710Adriatic coast2023statistica.regione.emilia-romagna.it
Rimini province — share of hotel rooms in seasonal hotels82.9%60,237 of 72,645 rooms2023statistica.regione.emilia-romagna.it
Greece — share of hotels operating seasonally62%hotel association survey, n=6212025itep.gr
Greece — share of hotel room capacity in seasonal hotels74%hotel association survey, n=6212025itep.gr

Months a Greek seasonal hotel is open, by category, 2025

Average months of operation among hotels that close part of the year. Higher-category hotels stay open almost a month longer, but even a 5-star seasonal hotel is closed for more than five months.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
5-star6.4 monthsseasonal hotels only2025itep.gr
4-star6.2 monthsseasonal hotels only2025itep.gr
3-star5.8 monthsseasonal hotels only2025itep.gr
2-star5.5 monthsseasonal hotels only2025itep.gr
1-star5.5 monthsseasonal hotels only2025itep.gr

Italy: hotel bed-places used over the full year, counting closed months, 2023 (%)

Istat's gross utilisation divides nights by all bed-places for 365 days, so closed months count as empty. The Alpine provinces and Rome's region use their beds most; the southern coast and islands least. For contrast, Eurostat's net occupancy, which counts only open days, was 53.3% for Italian hotels in 2025.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Lazio49.6%region incl. Rome2023istat.it
South Tyrol (Bolzano)45.8%Alpine, summer and ski2023istat.it
Trentino (Trento)40.5%Alpine, summer and ski2023istat.it
Veneto39.5%2023istat.it
Lombardy39.2%2023istat.it
Campania35.7%2023istat.it
Italy — all hotels33.8%national benchmark2023istat.it
Tuscany30.9%2023istat.it
Emilia-Romagna28.5%incl. Rimini coast2023istat.it
Sicily26.2%2023istat.it
Sardinia23.1%2023istat.it
Apulia22.5%2023istat.it
Calabria18.9%lowest in this set2023istat.it

Italy: full-year bed-place utilisation by hotel category, 2023 (%)

Same Istat gross measure. Higher-category hotels use almost twice as much of the year as 1–2 star hotels.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
4- and 5-star hotels40.2%incl. 5-star luxury2023istat.it
3-star hotels and tourist residences30.5%2023istat.it
1- and 2-star hotels22.1%2023istat.it

Spain: hotel staff in August divided by hotel staff in January, 2025 (ratio)

How many times more people hotels employ at the summer peak than in January. A ratio of 1 means a year-round workforce. Summer-coast provinces hire and release most of their staff each year; the Canaries, Madrid and Seville do not.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Balearic Islands18.98×summer resort · 77,349 hotel staff in August 20252025ine.es
Huelva province8.40×summer resort2025ine.es
Tarragona province8.10×summer resort2025ine.es
Almería province5.69×summer resort2025ine.es
Girona province4.75×summer resort2025ine.es
Castellón province4.32×summer resort2025ine.es
Cádiz province3.51×summer resort2025ine.es
Málaga province1.91×coast, open in winter2025ine.es
Spain — all hotels1.89×national benchmark2025ine.es
Alicante province1.60×coast, open in winter2025ine.es
Barcelona province1.36×city2025ine.es
Sevilla province1.04×city2025ine.es
Community of Madrid1.03×city2025ine.es
Canary Islands1.00×year-round resort2025ine.es

Prices and occupancy through the season

Revenue per available room in August divided by January, plus occupancy at the peak and in the low season. Seasonal destinations swing much harder than the national average, and lower categories swing harder than luxury hotels.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Spain, 3-star hotels — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR2.21×national2025ine.es
Spain, 4-star hotels — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR1.91×national2025ine.es
Spain, 5-star hotels — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR1.66×national2025ine.es
Balearic Islands, all hotels and hostals — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR3.99×summer resort2025ibestat.es
Balearic Islands, 5-star hotels — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR4.9×summer resort2025ibestat.es
Balearic Islands, 4-star hotels — August RevPAR ÷ January RevPAR3.53×summer resort2025ibestat.es
Greece, seasonal hotels — average double-room rate in August€215hotel association survey, n=621Aug 2025itep.gr
Greece, seasonal hotels — average double-room rate in October€130hotel association survey · about 40% below August (our calculation)Oct 2025itep.gr
Balearic Islands — hotel room occupancy in August92.09%summer peakAug 2026ine.es
Algarve — net room occupancy in August80.14%tourist accommodationAug 2025ine.pt
Algarve — net room occupancy in January31.62%tourist accommodation, open establishments onlyJan 2025ine.pt
Canary Islands — hotel room occupancy, full year83.76%year-round resort2025www3.gobiernodecanarias.org
Canary Islands, 4-star hotels — room occupancy in January89.19%winter is high season hereJan 2025www3.gobiernodecanarias.org

Why seasonality numbers for the same country look so different

Three measures answer three different questions. First, the summer share of nights (Eurostat) is about demand: it says nothing about whether hotels close, which is why Spain's national 25.4% sits next to the Balearics, where only 6.18% of the August room stock is open in January. National averages blend year-round cities and islands with summer coasts; the province and island rows matter more than the country row. Second, occupancy is usually measured only over open establishments or open days. Algarve occupancy of 31.62% in January is the occupancy of what stayed open, and Eurostat's 53.3% net occupancy for Italy counts only open days, while Istat's 33.8% gross rate counts closed months as empty. Use the gross measure when you plan revenue per property per year. Third, sources count different stock: INE Spain counts hotels and hostals, Ibestat reports both establishments and bed-places, INE Portugal counts all tourist accommodation, and the Greek figures come from a hotel association survey of 621 hotels weighted to the 10,118 in the country, not from official statistics. Italian gross rates and the Rimini breakdown are 2023 data; most other rows are 2025–2026. Countries such as Croatia and Bulgaria have the most summer-dependent demand but do not publish winter closures in a comparable form.

Eurostat — nights spent at tourist accommodation, monthly (tour_occ_nim) · INE Spain — Hotel Occupancy Survey · Ibestat — Balearic Islands tourist accommodation statistics · INE Portugal — Tourism activity · Istat — Annuario Statistico Italiano 2024, chapter 19 · ITEP — Annual Survey for the Hotel Sector 2025

Methodology

Every number on this page is a fact node in the God of Startups Atlas — a knowledge graph where each metric carries its source URL, reporting period, evidence tier and the verbatim quote it was taken from. Tier 1 means official statistics (Eurostat, INE Spain, Ibestat, ISTAC, INE Portugal, Istat, the Emilia-Romagna Region); tier 2 means industry research with a disclosed method (the ITEP survey for the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels). Ratios such as August-to-January staff and RevPAR are published as fact nodes computed from the source's monthly series; the few comparisons marked 'our calculation' are simple divisions of two figures shown on this page. Values are shown in the units the source reports; nothing is converted, estimated or modelled.

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Market cells behind this benchmark

Fact tables from the same knowledge graph — one market, every number with its source, period and evidence tier.

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