Spain has succeeded in multiplying by 8 the number of tourists in the space of 3 months, according to official data published on Thursday.
Tourism: Spain multiplies by 8 the number of travelers in 3 months
Two years after the outbreak of the global health crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic, Spain is regaining the interest of tourists who have traveled in large numbers to the Iberian Peninsula in the first three months of the year despite an inclement climate. during this period.
While already in 2021 foreign tourists had already begun to flock to the country, in 2022, and just in the months of January, February and March, tourism has multiplied by 8 in Spain.
At the top of the nationalities of tourists are the British, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
In the first three months of the year, 9.7 million foreign tourists came to visit Spain, an increase of almost 700% compared to the figure for 2021 representing 1.2 million people.
In March alone, the country welcomed 4 million travelers, compared to just 491,000 in March 2021, the majority of whom were British, with 1.8 million travelers over the period observed, i.e. nearly 30 times the figure for 2021 .
"Month after month, tourism continues to consolidate," Spanish Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said in a statement. The manager also said she was “optimistic” for spring and summer, especially after experiencing the surge during the Easter holidays.
Another element will restore pre-pandemic levels for tourism in Spain, and this will be the Marhaba operation in collaboration with Morocco, which was interrupted because of the pandemic but also because of a tense political context due to a diplomatic crisis which had plagued relations between the two countries for 10 months.
The number of German tourists, the second contingent of visitors, recorded a 490% increase over this period, representing a total of 609,000 travelers while the number of French tourists increased by 330%, reaching 457,000 people.
Spain also benefited from a sharp increase in tourism spending, which reached 11.9 billion euros. In March alone, the average expenditure of foreign visitors even exceeded that of the pre-pandemic period, at 1,257 euros against 1,068 euros in March 2019.
Second tourist destination in the world behind France before the health crisis, with 83.5 million foreign visitors, recent years have been impacted by the health crisis. In 2020, the number of tourists had reached 19 million, and 31.1 million in 2021 when the government was counting on 45 million.
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