The Diplomat
The number of international passengers arriving in Spain increased last October by 8.5% compared to the same month in 2023, reaching 9.8 million, which allows the positive trend of the first nine months of the year to be maintained.
According to the data published this Monday by Turespaña, collected by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, 62.2 percent of those 9.8 million passengers came from within the European Union, with an increase of 8%, while the flow from the rest of the world had an increase of 9.1%. In the first ten months of the year, Spain has received 91.5 million international passengers, 11.3% more than in the same period of 2023.
In addition, as occurred during the first three quarters of the year, in October there was an increase in passengers issued to Spain from all the main issuing markets in relation to the figures for the same month of 2023. In October, in addition, the trend towards market diversification continued to consolidate, with good performance from travelers from Latin American countries (from Brazil the increase is 22% and 18.5% from Colombia), Canada (21% increase), China (67% more) and the United Arab Emirates (28.6%).
As for traditional markets, the United Kingdom, with 2.1 million international passengers, generated 21.9% of the total flow of arrivals to Spain in October, recording a year-on-year increase of 6.3%. The Canary Islands were the main beneficiary, with 42,000 additional travellers this month.
Meanwhile, passenger arrivals from Germany in October stood at 1.5 million (15.2% of the total), increasing by 9.8% compared to October 2023. German travellers went mainly to the Balearic Islands (42.7%). Italy accounted for 9.8% of the passenger flow received in October (almost one million travellers), with a year-on-year growth of 11.4%, which particularly benefited Catalonia and the Community of Madrid (together both received 58.2% of travellers). The rest of the main communities received more Italian passengers than a year ago, except for the Balearic Islands. The year-on-year increases of more than 25% in Andalusia and the Canary Islands stood out.
France, for its part, issued 7.7% of the total number of passengers in October (748,790 travellers), showing an expansion of 3.9% that particularly favoured the Community of Madrid and Catalonia, which accounted for more than 49% of arrivals from the neighbouring country. The increase in Catalonia was particularly notable with 19,985 additional passengers this month.
Finally, 4.9% of the total number of travellers (just under half a million) arrived from the Netherlands. This market has experienced a growth of 3.7% in October and its main destination was the Community of Valencia, Catalonia and Andalusia, exceeding 90,000 travellers between the three. Among the increases, Andalusia stood out, which experienced a rise in arrivals from this market of 15.5%.
