Spain hotel stays tumble as Britons stay home

By Ben Harding

MADRID, March 4 (Reuters) - Spain's key hotel sector suffered a 12 percent year-on-year fall in guest stays in January after Britons shunned its ever-pricier beach and sun holidays and recession took hold, official data showed.

Spain is the world's second most popular destination for foreign tourists and tourism accounts for around 10 percent of its gross domestic product, making it the country's second largest industry after the now troubled construction sector.

Trade among Spaniards fell slightly more than foreign visitors as Spain's unemployment rate soared to the highest in the European Union, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Wednesday.

That sent the level of occupation tumbling 13.6 percentage points to 34.8 percent during what is expected to be Spain's worst recession in 50 years.

Tourist arrivals data last week showed a 10.1 percent year-on-year drop in January, as numbers from Spain's biggest market, Britain, dived 20.5 percent.

Britons struggling against recession have cut holidays to eurozone countries as the value of the pound has fallen 31 percent in the last two years.

HOTEL CHAINS HIT