Tourism numbers continue to soar with Spain on track to beat last year's all-time record of 85 million foreign visitors

The 16.1 million international tourists in the first three months of the year spent a whopping 22 billion euros, despite it being a wet Easter in most parts of the country

Edurne Martínez

Madrid

Friday, 3 May 2024, 18:48

Tourism has no ceiling at the moment in Spain. International visitor arrivals reached an all-time high last year, with 85 million foreign tourists , but there is every reason to believe that this year's figure will be exceeded. The data from the first quarter alone leaves no doubt: from January to March - usually the low season in all of Spain except the Canary Islands - 16.1 million visitors arrived in the country, almost 18% more than in the same period in 2023, a record so far, according to data published this Friday by the INE (national statistics institute).

And this record number of arrivals also brings with it an all-time record in terms of spending. In the first quarter, international tourists who visited Spain spent 22billion euros, some 27% more than in the same period in 2023, very good news for the sector, which is not so much thinking about the volume of arrivals as about these visits bringing in more revenue.

And that is despite the fact that Easter Week was worse than expected, with bad weather and rain affecting most of Spain - including the Balearic and Canary Islands - which led to cancellations and no last-minute bookings, according to the hotel employers' association Cehat.

Tourism

85 million tourists

visited Spain last year, an all-time record, and the forecast for 2024 is even higher

For this reason, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, emphasised after hearing the data that "this first quarter of the year, what was traditionally perceived in the past to be a low season, has turned out to be the best on record, with an outstanding growth in spending at the destination and in the average spending of international tourists, which perfectly reflects the change in the tourism model".

In the month of March alone - which is when Easter fell- more than 6.3 million foreign tourists visited Spain, 21% more than in March last year. In addition, the tourists who arrived in March brought in 8.6 billion, almost 30% more than in 2023. On average, each visitor spent 1,363 euros, 7% more, with a daily expenditure of 180 euros, 5% more than a year ago. In addition, the average period stayed saw a slight increase to 7.6 days per tourist.

Tourists came mainly from the United Kingdom, Germany and France, with the three countries together accounting for more than half of the visits in March. Of particular note was the increase in tourist arrivals from Belgium and Ireland, 22% higher than those who visited Spain in March 2023.

The top destination region was the Canary Islands, which registered 4.3 million visitors, followed by Catalonia and Valencia. The largest increases were in the Valencia and Madrid regions, with 20% more tourists than in March 2023.

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