Bono Viaje closes first six months of 2024 with almost 98,000 overnight stays

The BONO VIAJE travel voucher initiative, promoted by Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, has closed the first six months of 2024 with a total of 29,140 reservations, equating to around 97,953 overnights stays which is 20% more than those registered in the same period in 2023.

The Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Nuria Montes, considered the figures to be “very positive”, adding that “about 88,000 Valencian people have benefited from this initiative in the first half of the year”. At the same time, she highlighted the stimulus of the voucher scheme for “the deseasonalization that we want to consolidate, as well as the promotion of employment and economic revitalization in the territory itself”.

In 2024, the Bono Viaje covered 50% of the cost of a break in the Comunidad Valenciana, for a minimum stay of three consecutive nights in the same accommodation and up to a maximum of 350 euros per voucher.

The minister explained that the figures show that “in 2024 we have considerably increased the number of overnight stays compared to the same period in 2023. We have done so with a smaller investment, which also indicates that we still have a significant amount of the planned budget to be able to maximize this deseasonalizing effect that we seek during the low season in the Comunidad Valenciana”.

The average amount spent on a reservation was 588.74 euros during the first six months of 2024, which translates into a total of more than 17 million euros, of which Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has contributed more than 8.2 million euros.

For this 2024 edition, the Bono Viaje initiative has been provided with regional government funding worth some 12.5 million euros, of which more than four million euros will be directed to the second period of the initiative, which covers from October 15th to December 22nd 2024.

The minister also wanted to highlight other significant data from the review of the first six months, such as the municipalities most in demand. While Benidorm continues to be the most popular destination, the other nine most popular destinations have been Peñíscola, Calp, Elx, Dénia, Altea, València, Gandia, Crevillent and Alicante.

The majority of those people taking advantage of the Bono Viaje have opted for hotels as their preferred accommodation with more than 31% of the total reservations. Camping and rural accommodation were also popular, followed by tourist apartments and villas. The average stay was 3.4 nights.

The most requested month was May with 15,665 reservations representing more than 50,000 overnight stays. April saw more than 29,000 overnight stays whilst the month of March had more than 14,000.

A total of 946 companies are registered with the Bono Viaje initiative, of which around 34% are travel agencies, 31% hotels and more than 20% rural accommodation. The province of Alicante has the highest number of participating companies with almost 40% of the total, followed by Valencia (34.75%) and Castellón (25.52%). Since 2021, almost 4,700 companies have participated in the initiative.