The high prices of transport and accommodation this summer have not stopped the arrival of foreign tourists to Spain. On the contrary, the country has received more international visitors this July than in the same month last year and also in 2019. More than 10.1 million people traveled to Spanish destinations that month to spend their holidays, according to the data released this Friday by the INE. In the entire historical series of the statistics institute there is only one higher record, that of July 2017, when almost 10.5 million foreign tourists arrived.
Total spending by these international vacationers is also rising, largely driven by inflation – hotel prices in July peaked. In total, they spent 13,853 million euros, which represents an increase of 16.4% compared to the same month in 2022 and also 16% above July 2019. The average expenditure per tourist is 1,367 euros, with an increase annual rate of 4.4%. For its part, average daily spending grew by 9.0%, to 185 euros.
Of course, travelers have reduced the average duration of trips to adapt to the increase in the cost of vacations, with stays of 7.4 days, which is 0.3 days less than in July 2022. During the first seven months of 2023 Total spending by international tourists increased by 25.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 59,864 million euros. If this accumulated figure is compared with the data from 2019, before the pandemic, tourist spending is 14.7% higher.
The United Kingdom was the main country of origin of holidaymakers, with more than 2 million tourists, representing 20% ??of the total and an increase of 7% compared to July 2022. Even so, it is below the arrivals of before the pandemic. France and Germany were the next countries with the most tourists visiting Spain. The first contributes 1.6 million (11% more in annual rate) and Germany more than 1.1 million (4.8% more). Among the other countries of residence, the annual growth of tourists from the United States (28.9%), Portugal (18.5%) and Italy (17.8%) stand out. Illes Balears was the first main destination for tourists in July, with 24.1% of the total. They are followed by Catalonia (22.9%) and Andalusia (13.3%).
