Pernoctaciones. What a wonderful word. It means overnight stays. Pernoctaciones are used as a denomination to tot up the nights that tourists spend in a defined holiday area.

According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), the whole of Spain had a total of 24,000,000 tourist overnight stays during the month of May 2010 and thus, an increase of 5.7 % when compared to May 2009. And that is despite of La crisis. Hotel prices per night were down though by 2.6 % last month, in Spain, when compared to a year earlier.

Hotels in the Islas Baleares clocked up 5,407,660 pernoctaciones during the same month, an increase of 5 % over May 2009. No figures were given as to how that total would break down between the four main islands, but obviously, it is safe to assume that Mallorca would have taken the lion’s share. The statistical evidence for May 2010 is good news also in as much as it is the first year-on-year increase since May 2008. For the last 24 months, there has been a decrease of overnight stays every month when compared to the same period 12 months earlier, at least as far as Spain is concerned. If the latest increase turns out to signal a trend, this Summer 2010 season could be a good one after all. Nobody is taking any bets at the moment but, you never know. It may turn out all right after all.

The photo was taken in Cala Millor, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 7th, 2010. The time was 13:00:09.