SPAIN clocked up a record number of 5.1 million foreign tourists in January 2026- beating the previous high by 1.2% set a year earlier.
The figures were boosted by United Kingdom visitors accounting for 897,095 of the total- up by 3.3% on January 2025.
British arrivals made up 19% of the total foreign tourist figure in the first month of the year.
READ MORE:
- Bad news for holidaymakers as popular Spanish region votes to DOUBLE tourist tax from April
- Benidorm and Torremolinos among eight Spanish towns up in arms over lack of state support for the millions of tourists they receive each year
The National Statistics Institute says there was a big fall in French tourists with 517,788 arrivals- a 19.5% drop compared to a year earlier.
After the UK, France is regarded as the second biggest foreign tourist market in Spain, and the latest figures maintain a falling trend seen last year.
Inflation and the economic crisis in France are said to be factors in the visitor reduction.
German travellers fell by 2% to 527,327- but still overhauling France- with Belgium down by 7.8%.
Among the regions, there was a 3.5% annual fall in arrivals in the Valencian Community, while there were increases in other popular tourist areas.
Madrid reported an increase of 8.8% with 766,365 travellers, beating the Balearic Islands and Andalucia.
The Canary Islands saw arrivals grew by 4.9% with nearly 1.5 million foreign tourists- accounting for almost 28% of the total in Spain.
The Ministry of Tourism said spending grew by 9.3% in January to reach €7.8 billion.
A statement said: “These data support a start to the year in which, once again, the trend of growth in spending at destinations above the increase in the pace of arrivals continues to be maintained.”
Though UK tourist numbers were up, spending was down by 1.74% while German arrivals shelled out an extra 4.36%.
The spend of French tourists fell by 13.62%.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
