Spain records a whopping 24 million tourists up until April, some 15% more than last year

During the first four months of 2024 spending shot up 23% to 31.5 billion, with an average of 1,220 euros per person

Edurne Martínez

Madrid

Monday, 3 June 2024, 15:57

Spain is heading for a new record tourist season, with almost 24 million international visitors up to April, latest data shows.

The figure is 14.5% more than the number recorded a year ago, according to the data released by the country's INE National Statistics Institute (INE), which puts the expenditure of these tourists in Spain at more than 31.5 billion.

The highest number of visitors continue to arrive from the United Kingdom, with more than 4.4 million tourists accumulated in the first four months of the year. It is followed by Germany with 3.18 million and France with 3.14 million. Of particular note is the growth of the Belgian market, almost 25%, and of the United States, almost 15% so far this year.

In the first four months, the regions with the highest accumulated expenditure were the Canary Islands (8,182 million euros), Catalonia (5,456 million) and Andalucía (4,809 million).

Minister of industry and tourism Jordi Hereu said: "the results of the first four months of 2024, the best in the historical series since official records began, speak of a tourism that revolves around quality as a differentiating aspect, with spending at the destination that continues to increase and that symbolises the permanent love affair of international tourists with a range of innovative offers that aspire to make values such as sustainability and digitisation a reality".

Almost eight million tourists in April

In April, Spain welcomed a total of 7.8 million international tourists, some 8.3% more than in the same month last year. Most were from the United Kingdom, with almost 1.5 million tourists and an increase of 8.5% compared to April 2023. Nearly 1.2 million came from France (up 10.8%) and 1.1 million from Germany (up 12.6%).

By region, Catalonia was the main destination for tourists in April, with 21.3% of total visits, followed by Andalucía (15.4%) and the Balearic Islands (15.3%).

In April, total spending by international tourists visiting Spain reached 9,565 million euros, an increase of 13.1% compared to the same month in 2023. This raises the cumulative expenditure so far this year by more than 22% to some 31,513 million euros.

Expenditure on transport (not included in package tours) was the main item in April, accounting for 21.5% of total expenditure and an increase of 19.1% compared to the same month in 2023. A total of 61.4% of the expenditure was made by tourists staying overnight in hotels, with an annual increase of 12.8%.

Data from the INE tourism expenditure survey show the average spend per tourist in Spain stood at 1,221 euros, with an annual increase of 4.4%. Average daily expenditure grew by 5.4% to 183 euros, according to the figures.

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