Alex Trelinski
SPAIN set a new international tourist record for January with 5.1 million foreign visitors resulting in a 6.1% increase compared to the same month in 2024.
The figures published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), confirms the continuing upward trend and also the amount of money spent.
The United Kingdom was the leading market, while the Canary Islands was the busiest destination for non-Spanish based tourists.
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The UK total came in at 863,286 travellers, representing an increase of 3.6% compared to January 2024.
It was followed by France with 641,201 tourists(up 12.2%) and Germany, with 537,842 visitors(down 2.4%)
The number of tourists from outside Europe and North America leapt up by 25.8% last month.
The average expenditure per foreign tourist in January was €1,408 meaning an annual rise of 2.7% while average daily expenditure totalled €165 euros- 4.3% more.
British tourists spent the most with 15.4% of the total, followed by Germans (11.1%) and those from the Nordic countries (8.7%).
In terms of annual variations, spending by British tourists grew by 2.5%, that of Germans by 6% and from the Nordic area by 12.8%.
The main length of stay was four to seven nights for nearly 2.2 million tourists- an annual rise of 5.2%.
More than four million tourists visited Spain without a pre-booked holiday package- a 7.3% increase in independent travellers.
Among the regions, the Canary Islands- as normal in January- was the first choice accounting for 26.9% of arrivals with 1.36 million visitors.
That was followed by Catalunya(21.3% and 1.07 million) and the Madrid region(13.9% and 704,362 tourists).
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