International tourist figures in Spain are down this year but spending is up

8/4/23, 9:16 AM By Costas News Business

The tourism sector remains a central pillar of the Spanish economy as shown by figures published on Wednesday by the Institute of National Statistics (INE). In the first six months of this year, foreign visitors spent more than 46 billion euros, despite the fact that there are fewer tourists than before the pandemic.

A total of 37.5 million international tourists came to Spain in the first six months of the year, which is almost 24% more than in 2022 but still 1.6% below 2019 levels when 38.2 million foreigners visited the country.

However, the amount that foreign tourists are spending has increased. In 2019 they spent 40.3 billion euros meaning an almost 15% increase this year, part of which is attributed to the rise of prices due to inflation.

The average expenditure per tourist in the first half of the year was 1,275 euros, 6% more than last year, with a daily expenditure of 188 euros, 8% more. In addition, the average length is 6.8 days, according to the INE figures.

Acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, said: “These ‘excellent’ figures demonstrate the success of the government's commitment to quality and excellence.”

The INE figures also show that travellers from the USA have exceeded 1.84 million people so far this year, 55% more than those who came during the same period last year, and 15% more than those who came before the pandemic.

After the United States, come Swiss tourists (up 19.8%) and Irish holidaymakers (up 13.7%). The forecasts of the tourist employers' group Exceltur indicate that the number of hotel reservations for North American tourists will increase by almost 23% compared to the summer of 2019, as well as by 15% for those by Latin Americans.

However, Chinese tourism numbers will plummet 62% this summer compared to pre-pandemic figures, and those of Japanese visitors are also set to drop heavily, by an estimated 57%.

7.7 million British tourists visited Spain from January to June, which remains well below the 8.3 million that came in 2019. In second place were the Germans, with 4.9 million visitors, and the French, also with 4.9 million.