British tourists have spent the most money in Spain this year, eye-opening figures reveal – and it’s not even close

BRITISH tourists continue to be the most important foreign visitor to Spain in terms of volume and value, new figures have revealed.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), tourists who flew into Spain in May spent a total of €11.68 billion – up 19.7% on the same period last year.

It means the average tourist is now spending €1,263 during their stay, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%.

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When expanding the data to cover the first five months of 2024, the INE puts foreign tourist spending at a whopping €43.2 billion. That represents a 21.8% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

And despite a surge in anti-tourism protests, the number of holidaymakers flocking to Spain is continuing to surge.

Between January and May, some 33 million people from abroad visited the country, up 13.6% on last year.

Leading the way in terms of spending were the Brits, who accounted for 18.8% of all foreign tourist expenditure in May, bringing in more than €2bn to Spain’s coffers.

In fact the amount of money spent by Brits surged by 16.2% compared to last year.

In a distant second were the Germans, accounting for 12.1% of spending followed by the French, on 8.5%.

When analysing January to May this year, Brits accounted for 17.1% of all foreign tourist spending, or more than €7.3bn.

The regions making the most money from foreign tourists so far this year are the Canary Islands (22.3% of total expenditure), followed by Catalunya (18%) and Andalucia (15.1%).

In May alone, however, the biggest earners were Catalunya (19.9%), the Balearic Islands (19%) and the Community of Madrid (15.1%).