Spending by international tourists grows by 27.2% in the first quarter and visitor numbers increase by 17.7%

International tourist arrivals and tourist spending in Spain experienced significant growth in March, marking the end of a historic first quarter of the year for tourism, which this year included the Easter break. Spain was visited by 6.3 million international tourists in March, 21% more than in the same period of 2023, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Spain also once again broke its record for tourist spending this month. Foreign visitors brought in almost €8.65 billion, an increase of 29.7% on March last year. In the first quarter, spending by international tourists grew by 27.2 % to €21.95 billion, and the number of visitors increased by 17.7 % to more than 16.1 million tourists.

For the Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, "this first quarter of the year, previously conceived as a low season, has turned out to be the best in our historical series, with an outstanding growth in spending at the destination and in the average spending of international tourists, which perfectly reflects the change in the tourism model".

The statistics for average expenditure per traveller and average daily expenditure, which together with the average stay are three of the best measures of the effectiveness of the policies implemented by the ministry to improve the quality of tourism, have improved for yet another month. In March, each tourist spent an average of €1,363, 7.3% more than last year, and spending per day also reflected this growth, reaching €180, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. The average length of stay also increased slightly compared to the March 2023 data to 7.6 days.

The US, the third largest market in terms of spending

The UK continues to top the list of tourist sending countries, with 1.2 million people in March and an increase of 13.3% compared to March 2023. In second place in terms of source countries of Spanish tourism was Germany, which issued 909,031 visitors (28.7 % more than a year ago), and in third place was France, from where there were 791,648 arrivals (31.8 % more than in March 2023). In March, 285,498 people visited us from the US, an increase of 10.4 %, while 250,978 tourists arrived from Asian markets (China, Japan and South Korea, among others), representing a year-on-year increase of 18.2 %.

In terms of spending, UK tourists who visited us in March spent almost €1.37 million, representing a growth of 17.8%. The second country in terms of spending was Germany, the nationals of which spent €1,207 million on their holidays in Spain, an increase of 45.1% compared to March 2023. In third place was the US, with €755 million and a year-on-year growth of 34.3%. In fourth place was France, with €600 million in expenditure and an increase of 26.4%.

Leading the list of countries with the highest growth in international tourist arrivals this March was France, with an increase of 31.8 % compared to a year ago; in second place was Belgium, which experienced a rise of 30.3 %; and in third place was Germany with a year-on-year increase of 28.7 %.

The Canary Islands continue to lead the way in arrivals and expenditure

The Canary Islands was the top destination for tourists in March, with 24.3% of the total, followed by Catalonia (21.2%) and Andalusia (15.1%). A total of 18.9% more tourists were received by the Canary Islands in March 2024 than in March 2023. The number of tourists visiting Catalonia and Andalucia increased by 27.9% and 19.8%, respectively.

The autonomous communities of main destination with the greatest weight in tourist spending in March were the Canary Islands (with 26.9% of the total), Catalonia (17.3%) and Andalusia (16.9%). Tourist expenditure increased by 20.9 % in annual rate in the Canary Islands, by 38.1 % in Catalonia and by 47.6 % in Andalusia.

In the first three months of 2024, the regions with the highest cumulative expenditure were the Canary Islands (with 29.7% of the total), Catalonia (16.6%) and the Community of Madrid (15.5%).

Non official translation