Pricier hotels in Spain

Hotel fares ratcheted up 4.6 percent in April compared to the same month in 2002 and earnings per room jumped 2.4 percent over the past year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported in a press release.

The upturn –climbing over the national average- was registered in all communities alongside the Mediterranean coastline and affected all fares and categories alike. In a breakdown of Autonomous Communities, the highest over-the-year increases came to pass in Asturias and La Rioja with 6.9 percent in both cases, followed by the Mediterranean communities that saw increases of 6.8 percent in Murcia, 6.1 percent in Catalonia, 5.8 percent in Andalusia and 5.4 percent in Valencia.

According to INE, the new speedup shatters the low-fare trend that started out with the turn of the year and had been triggered in part by the Holy Week factor, a religious observance that this year took place in the month of April.