Spain Recovers 60% Of Pre-Pandemic International Tourists
Spain News
Published: 04 March 2022 12:27 CET
Spain has recovered 60% of its pre-pandemic international tourists according to the latest data published on Thursday by the country’s National Statistics Institute (INE).
In January, Spain received 2.5 million tourists, five times the number that visited the country in the same month of 2021 and 60% of the figure that visited the country before the pandemic hit.
The total amount of expenditure by foreign tourists also rose 561% to almost 3.03 billion euros. This is in comparison to the 562 million euros spent in 2021 and 4.78 billion euros in January 2020.
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto said, “The data for January confirm that the impact of the Omicron variant on tourism has been less than expected, although it has slowed down the pace of recovery.
“Waiting to see how the war in Ukraine can affect tourist flows in the coming months, the Government of Spain is already working on finding alternatives to a possible absence of Russian tourists this high season in our destinations most exposed to this market, as is the case of Catalonia.”
UK Tourists Grab Top Spot
The official figures from the INE show that the UK has once again grabbed the top spot from Germany and France as Spain’s most valuable market.
Thanks to the lifting of restrictions, 363,150 people visited Spain from the UK in January representing an increase of 1,461.3% in the same month in 2021.
This was followed by France with 347,955 and Germany with 282,280 visitors.
Most popular destinations
The Canary Islands remain the top tourist destination with 759,765 international visitors accounting for 30.6% of the total.
This was followed by the Catalonia region which attracted 463,661 visitors (18.6% of the total) and Andalusia with 323,896 tourists (13% of total).
The data also revealed that the vast majority of those who visited the Canaries were from Britain and Germany. French and other European nationals were the biggest visitors to Catalonia with Andalusia attracting more British and Dutch holidaymakers.
Tourists spending more
Not only did tourists stay longer in January, they also spent more money while here.
The INE data shows that the average stay lasted 9.9 days in January 2022, compared to just 8 days two years previous, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
The average expenditure per tourist also increased, with the average person spending 1,217 euros compared to 1,155 euros spent in January 2020.
With a total of 3,027 million euros spent, this represents an increase of 63% in January 2020, just prior to the global Covid pandemic.
Source
https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/industria/Paginas/2022/030322-frontur-egatur.aspx
https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/foreign-tourism-to-spain-jumped-to-60-of-pre-pandemic-levels-in-january
