Alex Trelinski
THE Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and Andalucia have beaten tourist numbers from 2019 over the first ten months of 2023 with all regions recording big boosts over last year.
The figures have been compiled by Frontur and published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Between January and October, Spain received 74.7 million tourists, which is 18.2% more than in 2022 and is already above the pre-pandemic cumulative figure, with 0.2% more.
The region with the highest amount of tourists so far this year is Catalunya with 15.8 million, but compared to other major holiday areas it saw a fall on 2019 levels- down by 8.6%.
The Balearic Islands welcomed 14 million travellers- 4.8% higher than the pre-pandemic level- while the Canary Islands recorded 11.2 million tourists, 4.3% more than in 2019.
Andalucia was the fourth region with the most tourist arrivals until October, with 10.8 million- just 4,706 more travellers than in the same pre-pandemic period.
Compared to the cumulative figure for 2022, the Community of Madrid is the one with the highest growth in tourists, with 29.6% more, followed by Andalucia (+22.2%), Catalunya (+21%), the Valencian Community (+20.2% ), the Canary Islands (+13.2%) and the Balearic Islands (+8.6%).
