Tourism starts the year at full capacity. The arrival of foreign visitors shot up in January by 65.8% in relation to the same month a year ago up to 4.1 million internationals. Who visited us they also spent 5,218 million as a whole, 71.7% more than a year earlier. Average daily spending increased by 19.3% to 148 euros. One of the lowest inflation rates among European countries and the weather have become two strong allies for the country’s main economic sector at the start of the year.
The data published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics in its Frontur (Tourist Movements on the Border) and Egatur (Tourist Expenditure) surveys confirm that The United Kingdom remains the main issuing market, with 742,212 tourists representing 17.9% of the total and an increase of 103.6% compared to January 2022. France and Germany are the next countries with the most tourists visiting Spain. France contributed 485,116 (39.6% more in annual rate) and Germany 478,258 (69.6% more). From the rest of the countries of residence it is possible highlighting the annual growth of tourists from the United States (102.8%), Italy (78.6%) and the Irish (66.1%).
In the first month of the year, The Canary Islands became the main destination for tourists, with 29% of all arrivals, followed by Catalonia (19.2%) and Andalusia (13.8%). More than 1.2 million visitors arrived on the islands, 58.5% more than in January 2022. They came mainly from the United Kingdom (with 33.2% of the total) and Germany (18.0%). Meanwhile, the number of tourists visiting Catalonia increased by 71.6% to 798,331, 18.1% coming from France and 10.6% from Italy.
The third main destination community was Andalucía, with 571,873 arrivals and an annual increase of 76.8%. The United Kingdom was once again the main country of origin (with 16.3% of all travelers), followed by the Nordic countries (11.3%). In the rest of autonomous communities Tourists up 113.1% in Comunidad de Madrid71.0% in the Valencian Community and 54.5% in the Balearic Islands.
