A RECORD 97 million foreign tourists visited Spain in 2025 according to the country’s tourism minister, Jordi Hereu.
Last year’s total was 3.5% up on the 2024 total of 94 million- itself a record- while spending rose 6.8% to €135 billion.
Jordi Hereu said: “This is a collective success by the whole country that perfectly demonstrates Spain’s enormous attractivity, because Spain is a country that seduces the world.”
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“We are growing in the way and at the pace that we believe is desirable for triple sustainability: economic, social, and environmental,” he added.
12 months ago there had been forecasts that numbers could top the 100 million mark, but though UK visitors were up on last year, there were falls in tourists from France and Germany.
Spain expects to host more foreign visitors, and for them to spend more in total, this year.
Hereu said: “If growth continues this year, we will reach 100 million foreign tourists, but we aren’t focused on that.”
Spain is the world’s second most visited country after France, and tourism is a major source of revenue for the economy, which has by far outgrown its European peers in the past two years.
According to tourism industry lobby Exceltur, the sector accounted for an estimated 13% of Spain’s gross domestic product in 2025.
Hereu said in the first four months of this year, authorities were forecasting a 3.7% rise in visitors from abroad to 26 million people.
Spending projections are around €35 billion, up 2.5% from the same period last year.
Hereu said Spain’s model was moving away from seasonality, as data showed that tourist spending had grown by 53% in the low and mid-seasons compared with pre-pandemic year 2019, and by 34% in the high season.
Two-thirds of tourists who visited Spain in 2025 intend to return as they see it as a safe place, the minister said, adding that there was no sign of global geopolitical issues affecting flight availability or booking trends.
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