Spending by international tourists in Spain exceeded €92.4 billion up to August, 7.1% more than a year ago

Total spending by international tourists up to August stood at just over €92.46 billion, which represents an increase of 7.1% compared to the same period in 2024, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The number of international tourists arriving in Spain in the first eight months of 2025 exceeded 66.8 million, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same period of the previous year.

These data consolidate the trend of growth in spending above the rate of arrivals, which has moderated in the last four months. This development responds to the Ministry of Industry and Tourism's commitment to a sustainable model based on prioritising quality over quantity, deconcentrating destinations and diversifying the tourist offer.

In the first eight months of 2025, the UK was the country with the highest cumulative expenditure (17.9% of the total), followed by Germany (11.6%) and France (9.1%). For their part, the autonomous communities with the highest accumulated expenditure were Catalonia (18.3% of the total), the Canary Islands (17.6%), and the Balearic Islands (16.8%).

In terms of visitors, the main countries of origin up to August were the UK (with almost 13.2 million and an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period in 2024), France (with more than 9.2 million and a slight increase of 0.1%), and Germany (with more than 8.2 million and an increase of 2%).

The main destinations in the year to date are Catalonia (13.8 million tourists and an increase of 0.2%), the Balearic Islands (11.5 million and an increase of 3.3%) and the Canary Islands (10.3 million and an increase of 4.5%).

The increase in spending is again higher than the increase in visitors

In August, the increase in spending by international tourists was 3.8 points higher than the increase in the number of foreign visitors. Specifically, in that month Spain received 11.3 million international tourists, who generated a total expenditure of more than €16.39 billion. Compared to the same month last year, visitor arrivals increased by 2.9%, while total expenditure grew by 6.7%.

During this month, each tourist spent an average of €1,457, which represents an increase of 3.6% compared to August of the previous year. The average daily expenditure of visitors grew by 4.9% year-on-year to €198.

Meanwhile, the length of stay of the majority of tourists was four to seven nights, with almost 5.3 million and an annual increase of 3.9%.

In August, the UK continued to be the leading country of origin for visitors, with more than 2.2 million visitors, who left just over €3.14 billion in Spain.

This was followed by tourists from France, with around 2 million visitors and an expenditure of €2.20 billion. Despite being the second country in terms of the number of visitors, the year-on-year rate fell by 5.1%.

In third place was Germany, with 1.3 million tourists and an expenditure of €1,827 million.

The Balearic Islands, the most popular destination in August

In terms of autonomous communities, the Balearic Islands was the main destination for international tourists in August, with 2,531,916 visitors in this month and a year-on-year growth of 3.5%. Catalonia received a total of 2,187,145 visitors (-4.3%), and Andalusia 1,719,690 visitors (7.6%);

Regarding these main destination autonomous communities and share of tourist expenditure, the Balearic Islands (23.9% of the total) accounted for the largest share, with €3.91 billion and an increase of 9.8% compared to the same period of the previous year. The Balearic Islands were followed by Catalonia (19.0% of the total) with just over €3.11 billion and 1.8% more, and Andalusia (14.5% of the total) with €2.375 billion and 4.1% more than a year ago.

Non official translation