The Diplomat
Spain received a total of 63.1 million international tourists in the first ten months of the year, representing 84.6% of the figures for the same period in 2019, with cumulative spending reaching 76,433 million euros, 93.4% of 2019, according to data released yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
These positive tourism data were underpinned by the good figures for October, a month in which arrivals and spending by foreign tourists who came to our country were close to pre-pandemic levels, reports Europa Press.
In that month a total of 7.2 million international visitors were registered, 94.6% of those who arrived in the same month of 2019, spending a total of 8,296 million euros in their travel and stay, 99.7% of the values of 2019.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, valued the good data for October, which maintain the recovery trend that began a year and a half ago.
“The tourism sector is showing great strength despite the current context of uncertainty, which is reflected very favourably in the economy and employment,” said the minister.
According to her forecasts, this recovery trend will continue in the final months of the year “thanks to the confidence offered by Spain as a destination and the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the Government, which are enabling inflation to be contained, which will allow us to close 2022 with figures close to precovid levels”.
In the month of October, the average expenditure per person grew with respect to the same month of 2019, from 1,097 euros to 1,156 euros, as well as the average stay, which went from 6.81 days to 6.9 days.
For yet another month, the United Kingdom was the leading outbound market, with more than 1.5 million tourists, followed by Germany, with almost 1.1 million and France, with 917,245 tourists.
In terms of expenditure, three main countries for Spain presented in October a higher expenditure than in the same month of 2019. These were the United Kingdom, with 1,641 million against 1,579.67 million; France, with 692 million against 571 million and Italy, with 278 million against 234 million.
By destinations, the region of Catalonia led the arrival of tourists, with almost 1.5 million; followed by the Balearic Islands, with more than 1.3 million; the Canary Islands, with almost 1.2 million; Andalusia, with more than one million; the Community of Valencia, with 865,908 and the Community of Madrid, with 688,517.
The Balearic and Canary Islands exceeded the 2019 visitor figures in October. In terms of spending, the Canary Islands exceeded the pre-pandemic figures with 1,552 million, the Balearic Islands with 1,490 million, and also the Community of Madrid, with 1,060 million euros.
