SPAIN’S infrastructure is coming under increasing pressure, experts warn, as the country heads towards welcoming more than 100 million foreign tourists in a single year.
Spain received a record 46.5 million tourists in the first six months of 2026, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The figure is up nearly 5% from 2025, and placing the country on course to smash through the 100-million mark by December 31.
According to a study by the Institute of Economic Studies (IEE), however, national investment in infrastructure has fallen to 3.4% of GDP this year – well below the levels needed to cope with its tourism boom and a population nearing 50 million.
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IEE president Iñigo Fernandez de Mesa said: “When you have more tourists, more passengers on trains, more users on the roads, more water consumption, more hospital use, you have to bring the level of infrastructure into line.”
Last year, the country had already shattered the previous record after receiving 96.8 million international tourists – up 3.2% on 2024, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE).
The scale of the influx now means Spain is effectively having to cater for a population far larger than the number of people permanently living here, experts have said.
Tourism pressure is particularly intense in Spain’s islands and Mediterranean hotspots, where visitor numbers are enormous compared with relatively small resident populations.
The Balearic Islands received 15.7 million international tourists in 2025, more than 12 times their resident population of roughly 1.3 million, according to INE.
In the same year, the Canary Islands welcomed 15.7 million foreign visitors – compared with around 2.3 million residents – while Catalunya received 20.1 million.
Transport infrastructure is also facing record demand, with Spanish airports handling 321.6 million passengers in 2025 – nearly 4% more than the previous year.
Spain’s airport operator Aena said the record traffic levels highlight the need for infrastructure to adapt, warning that capacity constraints could limit future growth.
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Last year, Madrid-Barajas handled 68.2 million passengers, Barcelona 57.5 million, Palma 33.8 million and Malaga 26.8 million – all reaching record annual traffic.
Housing is another major pressure point, with the Bank of Spain estimating around 355,000 tourist-use homes nationwide in 2025.
The central bank said those properties represented roughly 10% of Spain’s rental market, despite accounting for only 1.5% of housing.
The impact is particularly significant in tourist hotspots, where the concentration of holiday lets can substantially reduce housing available to permanent residents, the bank warned.
At the same time, tourism remains one of Spain’s biggest economic success stories, contributing 12.6% of GDP in 2024.
The sector generated more than €200 billion, while international visitors spent a record €134.7 billion in 2025, according to official figures.
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