Online restaurant bookings up 26% at the start of summer
The number of online restaurant reservations increased by 26% in July compared to the same period in 2019, prior to the pandemic. This is shown by data recorded by the booking platform TheFork. Regionally, the provinces with the highest increase in bookings last month were Menorca, with 45% more than last year; Cantabria, with 13%; Ibiza and Las Palmas, on a par with 12%; and, lastly, Gerona, with 9% of the total.
The weekends of 15 and 16 July and 29 and 30 July were the busiest of the month, each accounting for 9% of the total restaurant bookings for the month, with Saturday 15 July accounting for 6%.
On this occasion, dinners prevailed over lunches and, according to data from TheFork, 61% of diners preferred to enjoy this gastronomic moment of the day, compared to 38% who booked for lunch. In addition, it is worth noting that the most popular times of the day are 2pm for lunch (51% of the responses) and 9pm (47%) for dinner, which are the most popular times for diners.
Analysing the type of cuisine, the preferences of Spaniards have three clear favourites. The rise of Japanese cuisine stands out with 32%, which is in first place, followed by paellas and rice dishes with 12% and, lastly, hamburgers, with 10%.
Eliminating the language barrier, reducing travel time and travelling more territory and enjoying one of the best cuisines in the world, may be some of the reasons why, according to TheFork data, this August more than half of the Spaniards surveyed will opt for Spanish destinations (64%) to enjoy their holidays, compared to 20% who will go to European countries.
Furthermore, if we analyse the preferences of those surveyed in terms of who they prefer to spend their time with while travelling, the data show that 59% will go on holiday accompanied by their partner, 57% with their family, 32% with a friend and 7% alone with their pet. As for the type of tourism, almost half of those surveyed, 49%, say they will go on sun and beach tourism, while 17% will opt for cultural tourism and 15% for mountain, nature and adventure tourism.
Another of the conclusions drawn from the analysis is that 80% of those surveyed will opt to go out to restaurants more during their August holidays, thanks mainly to the free time they have available. Similarly, 35% say they will go out to a restaurant 1–3 times a week, 31% more than 3 times a week and, finally, 20% will do so every day.
the foFurthermore, on average, 48% of respondents plan to spend between 25–30 euros per meal and 23% less than 25 euros, and more than 65% of respondents say they will make their reservations via apps and 17% online (mainly social media and restaurant websites).
