In February 3.2 million international travellers came to Spain, spending 3,757M €, 78% of the pre-pandemic amount.
Reyes Maroto: “This Easter week we hope to reach 80% of the number of interantional tourists we welcomed in 2019”
In February, Spain recovered 71% of the international tourists who arrived in the pre-pandemic stage (February 2020), reaching nearly 3.2 million travellers and the level of spending stood at 78%, exceeding 3,700 million euros. The United Kingdom is the main issuing market with nearly 580,000 tourists, which represents 18.3% of the total, while tourists from France spent more on their trip than two years ago, according to data from the Frontier and Egatur surveys released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
“In February, the recovery trend in international tourism was consolidated with a growth of more than 670,000 travellers compared to the previous month, which shows the perception of Spain as a safe destination. This is a trend that we hope will intensify considerably in the face of the first milestone of the 2022 holiday calendar, Easter. Our forecast is that in the month of April we will be able to recover around 80% of the international tourists from the pre-pandemic”, pointed out the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
International tourists arriving in February grew by 1,007.8% compared to last year, reaching the figure of 3,156,809. The United Kingdom, France and Germany, in that order, were the main issuing markets, although the highest year-on-year growth was registered in the Nordic Countries (2,005.1%), Ireland (1,998.9%) and the Netherlands (1,482%).
In the first two months of 2022, the number of tourists visiting Spain increased by 680.6% and exceeded 5.6 million. In the same period of 2021, 722,947 arrived.
Main destinations
The Canary Islands, with 968,004 visitors, were the main destination for international tourists (3 out of 10 chose this archipelago), mostly British and German; followed by Catalonia (with a share of 19.6% and 619,390 travellers) and Andalusia (13.5% and 425,307 visitors). Tourists mainly travelled to Catalonia from France and other European countries, while Andalusia received mainly British and French tourists.
The duration of the majority stay among tourists in February was from four to seven nights, with a total expenditure (including transport to Spain) of 3,757 million euros, which represents 79.7% of the pre-pandemic stage. There is already a market, France, with a level of spending higher than February 2020 (385 million euros compared to 349). The average expenditure per tourist, with 1,190 euros, is also above the pre-pandemic stage when it was 1,066 euros.
The main autonomous communities by tourist spending are, in this order, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and the Valencian Community. The main expense item was activities, followed by international transportation not included in the tourist package and maintenance.
