Spain welcomes record 10.1 mln tourists

For the first time ever, Spain welcomed over 10 million foreign tourists in July as the tourism sector completed its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish Statistical Office (INE) said on Friday.

The INE's "Tourist Movements at Borders" (Frontur) study shows that 10.1 million foreign tourists visited Spain during the month, 11.4 percent more than in July 2022 and 2.6 percent more than in 2019, the year that saw the previous record for visitor numbers.

Tourist spending was also up, 16.4 percent more than in 2022 and 16 percent up on four years ago.

In the first seven months of 2023, 47.6 million foreigners visited Spain, almost 21 percent more than in 2022 but 0.8 percent fewer than in 2019. Tourist spending between January and July was up 14.7 percent.

The United Kingdom continues to be Spain's biggest source market, with 9.8 million Britons visiting the country in the first seven months of the year, followed by 6.4 million French citizens and six million Germans. The number of visitors increased by 28.9 percent from the United States, 18.5 percent from Portugal and 17.8 percent from Italy.

The INE registered a 49.9 percent increase in the number of tourists from the "rest of the world." This latter figure includes Chinese travelers.

Spain's acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Hector Gomez welcomed the results, saying that "for the first time we exceeded 10 million travelers in July, accompanied by extraordinary levels of tourist spending, which show the potential of Spain as a quality, attractive and sustainable destination for the world."