Number of tourists in Spain reaches record high for first half of 2024 – amid local anger over ‘excessive’ nature of the industry

SPAIN is continuing to set new records for foreign tourist arrivals with 42.5 million people visiting the country in the first six months of 2024- up 13.3% on the same period last year.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the most prominent with over 8.5 million tourists.

The rising numbers come despite big protests in some tourist areas over saturation and suggestions in some foreign media that people might be put off from visiting Spain.

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The figures augur a new record come the end of the year after 85.1 million international tourists came to the country last year.

The National Institute of Statistics(INE) also revealed on Friday that visitors spent a record €55.5 billion between January and June.

As for June itself, Spain received 9.31 million international tourists (12.1% more year-on-year), who spent €12.3 billion- up 16.6% on last year.

The INE calculated that each visitor spent an average of €1,329, 4% more than a year earlier and daily expenditure reached €196, up 1.9% year-on-year.

UK arrivals easily dominated June’s figures, with 2.1 million visitors(8.8% more) spending €2.4 billion.

That was followed by Germany with 1.1 million tourists (1.8% less) and France, with a million visitors (11.7% more).

By region, the Balearic Islands was the main choice in June with 23.6% of the total (up 6.7%), followed by Catalunya (21.5% of the total and up 10.1%) and Andalucia (14.7% of the total with 18.2% more visitors).

For first six months of the year, the region that welcomed the most tourists was Catalonia (9.1 million, 12.4% more than in the same period of 2023).

It was followed by the Canary Islands (7.5 million, 10.6% more) and Andalucia (6.3 million, 14% more).

The Madrid region had the highest percentage rise arrivals in the first six months of the year, with 20.4% more than in the same period last year.