Spain's Tourism Industry Recovers By 85% In April
Spain News
Published: 01 June 2022 13:43 CET
New figures show that Spain’s tourism sector is getting close to pre-pandemic levels.
Prior to the pandemic, Spain’s tourism industry accounted for 12% of its economy. In mid-2020, tourism ground to a halt as international travel was suspended, but as restrictions began to ease, visitors to the country started to return and a steady growth pattern could be seen.
Now, new data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in its Frontur/Egatur surveys, shows that Spain has actually recovered 85.4% of international tourists in April, compared to the same month of 2019.
According to the Spanish government website La Moncloa, the 6,102,142 tourists who visited Spain in April, stayed for an average of 7.3 days, an increase of almost a day compared to three years ago.
Subsequently, the average spending per tourist increased from 987 euros to 1,131 euros, a 15% growth.
The data also shows that in April, two out of ten of the international travellers who visited Spain were from the United Kingdom. The total number of UK visitors reached 1,246,136, an increase in that market of 85% compared to the same month in 2019.
The second-highest level of tourists came from Germany and France. A total of 989,807 visitors from Germany were registered, which gives a recovery level of 92% and from France 826,193 visitors were counted, which gives a recovery level of 81%.
The data also confirms that compared to before the pandemic, more tourists are visiting from countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The autonomous communities that received the most international visitors were Catalonia with 1,157,526, the Canary Islands with 1,110,097 and the Balearic Islands with 1,070,195.
They were followed closely by Andalusia with 907,596 tourists, Valencia with 783,987 and Madrid with 545,975.
British tourists chose to primarily visit the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, and Valencia. The French opted for Catalonia and Valencia and the Germans the Balearic and the Canary Islands.
The released figures show that 59.1% of the total tourist expenditure came from hotel accommodation, 21.3% came from activities, 19.9% from expenditure on international travel that was not included in a tourist package and 17.5% came from living expenses.
The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto stated that "Holy Week has consolidated the rapid and intense reactivation of the tourism sector, exceeding our own expectations.
“In addition, we are receiving tourists who stay longer in our country and, as a consequence, spend more on their trip, which indicates that we are moving towards a higher quality and more profitable tourism model.
“Despite the uncertainty of the war and its consequences, Spain is among the preferred international destinations for travel and our forecasts for the summer season indicate that we will recover pre-pandemic levels.”
Source
https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/industria/Paginas/2022/010622-turistasinternacionales.aspx
