Last January, 4.8 million international tourists visited Spain, 15.3% more than in January 2023, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In addition, Spain once again breaks its tourist spending record in January. Foreign visitors contributed 6,5 billion euro, which, in a context when everything is more expensive, from travel to hotels, to food and drink, represents a growth of 25.5% compared to the figure for January of last year.
For the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, “the uninterrupted growth of tourists, and especially of tourist spending, should serve as a stimulus to continue helping the sector with public policies aimed at improving social, environmental and digital sustainability indices. Being a leading destination is always good news, and we must continue working to, in addition to leading tourists’ preferences, position ourselves as a reference for the new global tourism industry.”
In this sense, the average expenditure per traveller and the average stay, two data that illustrate higher quality tourism and focus the policy efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, also offer encouraging figures. Each tourist spent an average of 1,374 euro in January, 8.9% more than last year, and spending per day also reflects this growth, reaching 158 euro, an increase of 6% year-on-year, again, bearing in mind the cost of everything has increased.
The US continues to lead in growth
The United Kingdom continues for another year to top the list of tourist-sending countries in January, with 833,416 tourists and an increase of 12.3% compared to January 2023. From France, the second country in visits, 571,774 arrived (18.0 % more than a year ago) and from Germany, the third in the ranking, 551,305 tourists visited us (14.9% above the figure for January 2023).
Regarding the level of spending, the United Kingdom, with 16.4% of the total and a growth of 26.7%, is at the top among the issuing countries. Germany is the second country that spends the most, with 11.4% of the total and a growth of 25.5%. In third place are the Nordic Countries, with a share of 8.4% and an increase of 14.4% compared to a year ago.
At the head of the countries with the highest growth this January is Switzerland, with an increase of 32.1% compared to a year ago; In second place is Ireland, which experiences an increase of 26.9% and third place goes to the US, which continues its upward path in 2023 with an increase of 23.7% year-on-year. The 172,901 tourists from this country who visited us in January reflect the efforts of the ministry’s policy to attract wide-range markets, whose stays and spending tend to be higher than average.
Canary Islands, main destination
The Canary Islands were the first main destination for tourists in January, with 27.7% of the total. They were followed by Catalonia (20.1%) and Andalusia (14.0%). 9.2% more tourists came to the Canary Islands than in January 2023. The number of tourists who visited Catalonia increased by 20.3% and 17.4% more came to Andalusia. Catalonia, incidentally, operates a so-called tourist tax, and has done for many years, a concept which has been cancelled by the new regional government of Valencia as they argue it would damage tourism.
The main destination autonomous communities with the greatest weight in tourist spending in January were the Canary Islands (with 30.6% of the total), the Community of Madrid (17.7%) and Catalonia (16.0%). Tourist spending increased by 17.0% in the case of the Canary Islands, 34.3% in the Community of Madrid and 30.1% in Catalonia.
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