The Tourism Municipal Department of Calp, led by Jan Van Parijs, estimates that the town has registered an increase in tourist occupation around 6% in relation to last year, a figure that is the result of the valuation of various indicators handled by the department.
Thus, a study carried out by the Municipal Department finds that hotel occupancy in July has risen from 85.09% in 2016 to 87.76% in 2017 and in August, from 92.91% to 94.91%, a percentage slightly higher than this registered by Hosbec (it should be noted that not all hotels in Calp are part of Hosbec).
Concerning the tourist apartments, the INE points out that the number of travellers choosing this type of accommodation in Calp was 22,567 people in July, 22% more than in 2016, and 21,221 in August, 9% more than the last year.
Along with the increase in the number of visitors, it is worth mentioning the strong increase in tourist offer registered this year, due to the opening of the new Suitopía hotel and in particular the regularization of a large number of tourist apartments. The INE calculates that the number of apartments grew 122% in July and 171% in August.
The town councillor for Tourism, Jan Van Parijs, stressed than an increase of 6% in tourist occupation "is a very positive data for the economy of Calp because it supposes hundreds of jobs more a month". At the same time, he pointed out that despite greater awareness in the sector, illegal accommodation remains an injustice and unfair competition to regulated rental and that the tourist tax "would only punish legal tourist occupation." "It is necessary to continue making the owners aware of the duty to declare their rental incomes," he added.
Otherwise, visits to tourist information points were reduced by 17% in July and by 29% in August, attributed to the high fidelity of the tourist in Calp, who already knows the local supply and to the greater use of technological devices that reduce the need for face-to-face information. In fact, 96% of tourists surveyed in tourist offices intend to return to Calp and 46% of tourists visit the municipal website in advance to obtain information on destination. In addition, 81% of the respondents rated with Excellent - 9 or 10 out of 10 - their satisfaction with Calp as a tourist destination.
