"The early implementation of the EU Digital COVID Certificate from the beginning of June in Spain, together with the authorization of non-essential travel from the United Kingdom, have had a positive impact on international passenger arrivals to our country and have allowed to start the summer season earlier and in better conditions than in 2020 ", has valued the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés. The challenge now passes, he added, to be able to extend the summer season "at least until October".
The new measures to open up to tourism in June triggered arrivals from the United Kingdom, a main market for Spain that, since its effective exit from the EU in early 2021, was practically inactive. Last month, on the other hand, 156,341 passengers traveled to our country from British airports, 232% more than in May.
Germany, main issuer
Germany was the main issuer of passengers in June, with 579,059 travelers, 24.8% of the total, who went mainly to the Balearic Islands. It is followed by France, with 247,752 people (10.6% of the total) whose main destinations were Catalonia and the Community of Madrid.
From Italy, 9% of the passengers arrived (209,177) who went mainly to the Balearic Islands and Madrid, while the Netherlands issued 7.6% of the total number of travelers (176,737) and whose main destinations were the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community and Andalusia .
For the third month in a row, arrivals from all major sending countries increased. Comparing with the 2019 figures, Poland is the country showing the highest degree of recovery (-47.7%).
Balearic Islands, first destination
In June, the Balearic Islands was the first 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); Valencian Community, 11.4% (266,596) and the Canary Islands, 9.6% (224,538).
By airports, Palma de Mallorca was the one that 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 Malaga (237,394, 10.2%).
53.1% of the passengers who flew to Spain from international airports did so on low-cost airlines, while the remaining 46.9% chose traditional airlines.