Tourist figures are recovering and in June 2.2 million international tourists arrived in Spain, a tenfold increase on the figure recorded in the same month in 2020, when 204,000 came. Likewise, their spending rose from 133 million to 2,416 million euros.
June’s figures are significantly better than those of the same month last year, when the state of alarm had just been lifted and the world was still basically closed, and also represent an acceleration compared to May, when 1.4 million tourists had entered.
If the comparison is made with the same month in 2019, without the pandemic, the number of foreign tourists arriving in Spain last June fell by 6.1 million and spending fell to a quarter of the 9,686 million recorded in that month.
According to the surveys of international tourist arrivals (Frontur) and spending (Egatur) published on 3 August by the National Statistics Institute (INE), 5.4 million tourists entered the country in the first half of the year, 49.6% less than a year earlier and almost 33 million less than in 2019.
The essential issuing countries in the first six months of 2021 are France (with nearly 1.2 million tourists and a decrease of 16.9% compared to the same period in 2020), Germany (with almost 1.2 million, and a drop of 12.3%) and the rest of Europe (with 672,798 tourists, down 27.0%).
The Balearic Islands was the main destination for tourists in June, with 29.6% of the total. It was followed by Catalonia (18.2%) and Andalusia (13.4%).
In the accumulated of the first six months of 2021, the communities that receive more tourists are Illes Balears (with almost 1.3 million and an increase of 189.6% over the same period of 2020), Catalonia (with 975,016 tourists and a decrease of 57.8%) and the Canary Islands (with almost 753,587, 72.4% less).
The average expenditure per tourist stands at 1,090 euros, with an annual increase of 66.4%. In turn, the average daily expenditure increased by 35.1% to 147 euros.
During the first six months of 2021, the total expenditure of international tourists decreased by 51.4% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 5,765 million euros.
