Laurence Dollimore
SOME 32 million tourists have visited Spain in the first six months of 2016, showing a 12% increase on last year.
A staggering eight million were Brits, increasing 16.5% on last year, meaning a whopping 12.5% of the UK’s population have visited the holiday favourite so far this year.
Spain is believed to have become the destination of choice for holidaymakers who are steering clear from rival destinations like France, Egypt and Turkey, which have been plagued by terrorist attacks and political instability.
While Brits were by far the largest group, Germans were second with 4.9 million, followed by France with 4.5 million.
Catalonia has been the most visited part of Spain from January to June, followed by the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and Andalucia.
France has struggled significantly following a wave of terror attacks.
Bookings to Nice dropped by 57% following the truck attack which saw 84 people killed.
