The Diplomat
Spain received more than 2.3 million passengers from international airports last June, 75.8% less than in the same month of 2019, although it represents the best figure since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Turespaña, reports Europa Press.
The early implementation of the European Union’s Covid Digital Certificate since the beginning of June in Spain and the authorisation of non-essential travel from the United Kingdom have had a positive impact on international passenger arrivals and have allowed the summer season to start “earlier and in better conditions than in 2020”, valued the State Secretary for Tourism, Fernando Valdés.
The measures to open up to tourism led to an upturn in bookings in June for arrivals from the United Kingdom, a main market for Spain which, since its effective exit from the EU at the beginning of 2021, was practically inactive, according to Turespaña. However, last June, 156,341 passengers travelled to Spain from British airports, 232% more than in May.
By place of origin, Germany was the main source of passengers in June, with 579,059 travellers, 24.8% of the total, who travelled mainly to the Balearic Islands. This was followed by France, with 247,752 people (10.6% of the total), whose main destinations were Catalonia and the Community of Madrid.
Italy accounted for 9% of the passengers (209,177) who mainly went to the Balearic Islands and Madrid, while the Netherlands issued 7.6% of the total number of passengers (176,737), whose main destinations were the Balearic Islands, the Community of Valencia and Andalusia.
In total, arrivals from all the main issuing countries increased. Compared with the figures for 2019, Poland is the country that shows the greatest degree of recovery (-47.7%).
In terms of destination, in June, the Balearic Islands was the leading destination community, with 28.4% of the share (664,013 passengers); followed by Madrid, 21.3% (497,397); Catalonia, 15.6% (364,092); Andalusia, 12.3% (286,312); Valencia, 11.4% (266,596) and the Canary Islands, 9.6% (224,538).
By airports, Palma de Mallorca airport received the highest volume of international passengers (508,122, 21.7% of the total), followed by Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (497,394, 21.3% of the total); Barcelona (349,755, 15%) and Málaga (237,394, 10.2%).
