Spending grows by 27.2%, to 21,948 million euros

MADRID, 3 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Spain received more than 16.1 million international tourists in the first quarter of the year, which is 17.7% more than in the same period of 2023, according to data released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics. (INE).

Furthermore, these tourists spent 21,948 million euros in Spain between January and March, 27.2% more, ending the first quarter of the year as a “historic” period for tourism, which this year included Holy Week.

“The arrival of international tourists and tourist spending in Spain have experienced notable growth in the month of March, culminating a historic first quarter of the year for tourism,” as reported by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.

In this sense, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has stressed that “this first quarter of the year, traditionally conceived in the past as a low season, has turned out to be the best in our historical series, with notable growth in spending in destination and the average expenditure of international tourists, which perfectly captures the change in the tourism model”.

In March, 6.3 million international tourists visited Spain, 21% more than in the third month of 2023, as can be seen from Statistics surveys relating to the entry of foreign travelers (Frontur) and associated spending (Egatur ) published this Friday, which reveal that the tourist spending record has been broken again this month.

In addition, foreign visitors contributed 8,652 million euros, which represents a growth of 29.7% compared to the figure for March of last year.

Specifically, each tourist spent an average of 1,363 euros in March, 7.3% more than last year, and spending per day also reflected this growth, reaching 180 euros, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year.

The stay experienced a slight increase compared to the data from the third month of last year, reaching 7.6 days on average.