The effects of the Covid-19 health crisis and the measures taken throughout 2020 to fight this pandemic have caused major changes in tourism in our city, especially in summer, as it is the season that usually sees the most visitors.  

The phases of de-escalation and mobility restrictions in European Union countries caused the usual tourist to give way to a new visitor profile that came to your city during the summer season. If you want to know what this new type of tourist was, read on! 

In previous years the tourist profile of Santander was characterized by their procedence mostly from France, Germany or the United Kingdom, with a medium-high or high purchasing power, who chose the summer months to spend their vacations in the city. However, the pandemic drastically changed this trend in 2020: the restrictions on mobility between countries caused international tourism to be less and less, to the point of being practically inexistent during almost the whole year;  of course, this absence was most noticeable during the summer months. Only a slight trickle of French tourists came to Santander, motivated by their relative proximity to the city.  

However, when we talk about domestic tourism, the situation changes: this decline in international tourism gave way to a large number of Spanish visitors, who chose your city to spend their vacations due to several factors. 

Firstly, the de-escalation and the new possibilities of movement in the country, and the distrust or impossibility of traveling abroad, favored that many chose Spanish destinations to spend their vacations, and among the favorite destinations was Santander.  

Proof of this was that Santander became the second most visited city in our country and the first of these in the north of Spain. This is because the northern area managed to differentiate itself from other areas and position itself as a "safe destination" in the face of the outbreaks of Covid, thanks to the low figures achieved by Asturias and Cantabria. 

However, Santander was the favorite city of tourists, surpassing even cities like Gijón or Pontevedra, especially during the months of July and August, where peaks of tourism can be seen, for example, on August 8 with more than 45,000 tourists.  

July and August also host local and regional holidays, that also obtained good figures:  

-Festivity of St. James (Sunday, July 25): with almost 68,917 tourists. 

-Festivity of the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15): with almost 67,143 visitors. 

-Day of the Institutions of Cantabria (July 28): 53,636 visitors. 

Another factor was that, previously, the possibility of being able to stay overnight in the city was complicated, since the hotel offer is limited, does not usually increase, and was usually more focused on international tourism, with a higher purchasing power. However, the decrease in this tourism, coupled with the fact that many hotel companies opted to adapt their prices to the new situation, caused many Spaniards to spend their vacations in Santander because of the possibility of staying overnight in the city, which they did not have before, so that the average stay of national tourism in Santander increased compared to previous years.   

These factors have been decisive for national tourism to choose your city as the best option during their vacations, thus transforming the profile of tourists who used to visit Santander. 

As for the provinces that visited us most during the summer, the most numerous, following the usual trend, were the people from Madrid and Biscay. In terms of age, 23% of visitors were between 23 and 39 years old and 20% of those between 40 and 54. The predominant economic level is still medium-high. 

Finally, in September, the high tourism figures began to fall, due to new virus outbreaks and the latent risk of new mobility restrictions. Proof of this are festivities and special days, where we see a large drop in the number of visitors, such as the Santos Mártires day (Monday, August 30) with 20,000 visitors and the Bien Aparecida day (September 15) with only 10,000. In the following months, the numbers of national tourism are expected to be on decline, except for brief upturns at Christmas. 

In conclusion, the "new normality" applied to tourism and travel that left 2020 has consolidated domestic tourism, and has made very popular getaways to "charming" corners of Spain, the possibility of exploring different destinations and rediscover new places in our country, destinations among which, if the trend continues, Santander will undoubtedly be among the favorites.