2023 was the best year in the history of tourism in Spain, far surpassing pre-pandemic economic records. The 84 million visitors who chose the islands, the coasts or the destinations in the interior of the country spent a total of 108,000 million euros, according to the provisional data made public yesterday by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu This is a growth of 23.8% compared to 2022 and 17.4% more than 2019. On average, each visitor spent 1,285 euros.
The main sending visitor markets were the traditional ones: the United Kingdom, in a prominent position, with 17.3 million tourists who arrived in Spain and who spent almost 20,000 million; Germany, with 10.7 million visitors and almost 13,000 million in holiday spending; France, with 11.6 million tourists and 9.6 billion in spending, and Italy, with 4.8 million travelers and 4.2 billion in spending. In fifth place emerges what has become the fastest growing market: that of tourists from the United States who choose to cross the Atlantic to visit Spain. In total, 3.8 million Americans crossed the ocean, 38% more than in 2023, and spent 7.78 billion, almost 50% more. On average, each Brit spent €1,150 in the destination, each German spent €1,214 and each tourist from the United States spent almost €2,050, giving an idea of ??the potential of these latter visitors, who, in moreover, they tend to opt for longer stays.
Catalonia was once again the autonomous community that received the most tourists in 2023, with 17.9 million visitors and a growth of 20.5% compared to the previous year. Catalan destinations, mainly those on the coast, also accounted for almost one in five euros spent by international tourists throughout the country. Specifically, 20.7 billion, 26% more than in 2022.
These sector figures are also accompanied by an exponential rise in tourism employment, which rose by 5.4% at the end of December compared to the same month in 2022, which indicates that 2023 ended with the number of highest affiliates in the historical series. They are 2.5 million, 12.5% ??of the total economy, according to official figures from the central government.
Minister Hereu also advanced that these tourist data are being widely surpassed during the first weeks of 2024. According to the head of Industry and Tourism, the forecast of the expenditure of foreign visitors during the first four months is 30,432 million, 18.5% more than in the same period last year. Regarding the expectations at the end of the year, Hereu said that “2024 will again be another record year”. In this way, the Executive already considers the pandemic completely over.
“We are on a good path that leads us not to complacency, but to demand. We must continue to take care as a country of this magnificent economic sector of Spain”, warned Hereu, however. The minister set the priorities of the ministry’s policies: sustainability, the improvement of employment conditions, the diversification of the offer, training and digitalisation.
The objective of the Spanish Executive and Turespaña for this 2024 and the following years is to attract intercontinental tourists. “We want more visitors from other continents to visit us, we have to fight there”, explained Jordi Hereu. A bet, in short, for quality rather than quantity. “We must diversify in order to bring prosperity to a less populated Spain”, he explained as part of the road map.
When asked about the regulation of tourist rental housing, a recurring demand from hotel companies, mainly, and from municipalities, the Central Government assumed that there is a problem in certain destinations, and yesterday Minister Hereu advanced that the control of the disorderly proliferation of these accommodations will soon be addressed in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing.
The Minister of Industry and Tourism also admitted that the crisis in the Red Sea with Yemen’s Houthis is causing problems in the supply chain in certain business sectors, especially textiles. Hereu affirmed that the Spanish Government is “way above” this business problem.
