The Diplomat
Spain received nearly nine million passengers from international airports in August, representing 87% of those who arrived in the same month of 2019, according to data published yesterday by Turespaña from Aena records.
According to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, these data are “very positive because they confirm the intense recovery of the tourism sector that is resisting well the uncertainty generated by the war and inflation.” “Our forecasts for the autumn are good, although within the prudence that is necessary to have in such complex times,” she added.
August saw an increase in passengers departing from all major countries. One out of every four passengers came from the United Kingdom and went mainly to the Balearic Islands. 78.6% of passengers from the UK flew on a low-cost airline. In total, Spanish airports received 2,240,299 passengers from the UK market, which achieved a recovery of 84.6% compared to 2019.
From Germany, 1,338,855 passengers arrived, 14.9% of the total, who mainly went to the Balearic Islands. In the case of this market, the proportion of passengers choosing traditional airlines versus ‘low cost’ is practically split 50/50 (51.8% in traditional airlines-48.2% in low cost). The German market accounted for 87% of pre-pandemic arrivals.
Italy also issued 831,581 passengers, who flew mainly to Catalonia. Eight out of ten passengers from Italy traveled on low-cost airlines. The same destinations were mainly served by 711,189 passengers from France.
