Spain received around 14.2 million international tourists during the first three months of the year, 3.7% more than in the same period of 2018, while its spending increased by 4.1% to 15,394 million euros. They are data from surveys of Tourist Movements in Border (FRONTUR) and Tourist Expenditure (EGATUR) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics.
In March, 5.6 million tourists visited our country, which represents an increase of 4.7% compared to March 2018. In addition, its expenditure was 6,037 million euros, 5.4% more, with the average cost daily at 152 euros (+ 6%).
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Oliver, celebrates the increase in both tourist spending and the volume of international tourists because “they demonstrate the robustness of tourism in our country and encourage us to continue working to strengthen a competitive, sustainable growth model and profitable. ”
Arrival of tourists
In the accumulated index of the year, the main issuing markets were the United Kingdom, with more than 2.8 million international tourists (-1.6%), Germany, with almost 1.9 million (+ 0.9%), and France, with about 1.7 million tourists (+ 0.3%). Among the rest of the countries of residence, it is worth mentioning the growth experienced by Russia (+ 27.2%), Portugal (+ 23.6%) and the United States, with an increase of more than 18%.
By national destinations, the Canary Islands was the community that received the most tourists with almost 3.7 million, which represents a decrease of 1.2%. They were followed by Catalonia (with more than 3.2 million and an increase of 3.9%) and Andalusia (with close to 2.1 million, 7.6% more). Also noteworthy is the growth in Madrid, which increases the number of tourists received by almost 12%, to reach 1.8 million.
Increase in spending
From January to March, the Autonomous Communities of main destination with the highest total expenditure were the Canary Islands (with 1,744 million and an increase of 8.2%), Catalonia (with 1,235 million euros, 7.8% more than in the same period of 2018), and Comunidad de Madrid (with 824 million and an increase of 25.7%).
In terms of issuing countries, the United Kingdom has the highest cumulative expenditure so far this year with 2,667 million euros (+ 1.4%). It is followed by Germany, with 1,940 million (-0.1%) and France, with 1.038 million (+ 2.6%).
