Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
BRITISH tourists have again led the charge in terms of spending in Spain in 2024. This is despite the fact that the tourism industry has broken records in the year.
Foreign visitors spent a staggering €126.3 billion over the year – a 16.1% increase from 2023 – while British travellers alone contributed €22.6 billion, according to the latest records from the Spanish Institude of Statistics (INE).
The British are Spain’s top customers for the 4th year in a line, and only Covid has tarnished their record.
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December continued a strong run for the Spanish tourism sector, with a surge of festive-season visitors spending €7.6 billion – a 7% rise compared to the same month in 2023.
Visitors spent an average of €1,441 per person – a 5.9% increase compared with December 2023, while average Daily expenditure also climbed by 6.4% to €159
Even accounting for a meagre 0.6% increase, British tourists accounted for €1.1 billion of this figure, or 14.5% of all spending.
Canary Islands were the most popular holiday destination in Britain for December. This is not surprising, as the island archipelago was responsible for 29,5% all expenditure.
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Cataluya was followed by Madrid, where British visitors spent a lot of money in Barcelona’s busy streets and Madrid’s world class museums and restaurants.
While Brits continue to be the top spenders in Spain, Germans are fast catching up.
In December, German visitors splurged €952 million, a remarkable 20.4% increase from the previous year.
Over the course of 2024, German spending in Spain reached €15.5 billion, up 17.6% from 2023.
Nordic tourists also made their mark, with the highest per-person spending of any nationality, averaging €1,769 per trip in December.
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With 93.8 million international visitors in 2024 – a 10.1% increase from the previous year – Spain shows no signs of losing its status as a global tourism powerhouse.
Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands remain the most sought-after regions, attracting the lion’s share of visitors and tourist spending – leaving Andalucia as one of the smaller ponies in the race.
Catalonia was the top destination in terms both of tourists and their spending in 2024.
The region welcomed nearly 20 million international visitors, a 9.7% increase, and generated €23.745 million in tourist expenditure.
Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, and other islands also attract over 15 millions tourists.
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