James Warren
RECENT figures from the Ministry of Tourism have shown a drop in tourism from German and British tourists throughout Spain in January, and have predicted an overall drop throughout the year.
This prediction will represent the first drop in tourist figures for the first time since 2013.
During January, Spain welcomed 4.14 million foreign visitors through its borders, 1.4% less than the same period in 2019.
Many attribute this drop to the UK’s departure from the European Union at the end of the month with UK visitors dropping 11% to 718,248, but the data also covers other European neighbours in the drop too.
Germany, Spain’s second biggest tourism sector dropped 4.6% to 494,000 whilst Scandinavian visitors, popular along the Costa del Sol, dropped a whopping 9.6%.
There are certain countries that have also seen a dramatic increase.
American tourists have seen a 20% increase and the French are up 7.7%.
These patterns show that the reasons behind the decreases are more to do with the ever changing markets rather than Brexit.
By region, Andalucia remains a popular destination by showing a small increase of 4% whereas the Costa Calida, Valencia and Madrid fall into the 0.1% increase category.
Most startling was the Balearics which showed a decrease of 26.8%, which is likely to concern local governments across the region.
The figures also show that the UK market represents a major player in Spanish tourism, despite the reduction in figures. In total, Brits represent on average 30% of the total tourist sector.
On the positive side, with tourism figures likely to fall this year, spending is expected to rise, with the average tourist spending 7.6% more than they did the same time last year.
In total, €4,779 million was injected into the Spanish economy throughout January, with €730 million coming from British pockets.
These figures highlight the importance of the tourist industry in Spain as the total investment works out at €6.42 million spent every hour!
