The Valencian community was able to overtake the Canary Islands and Andalusia and reach the third place among the tourist destinations chosen by foreign visitors during the high season (in August). Although the number of foreign tourists in Spain fell by 75% overalldue to the pandemic in this year, Valencian entrepreneurs submit that the interest of foreign visitors to the region didn’t decrease. Moreover, compared to other regions, the Valencian community boasts some stability in this area.
It is worth noting that this result was achieved by the Valencian community, despite a significant reduction in the number of Britons, who usually make up the largest group of foreign tourists coming to the region. The reason was the introduction of the UK quarantine for all visitors from Spain this summer. Now the first place was taken by the French – they accounted for about 48% of all tourist arrivals. This is followed by the British – 11.6%.
This result was made possible by the fact that the tourism sector in the Valencian community suffered less in August than in other regions of the country. For example, Catalonia, which managed to stay in the first place by the number of visitors (459.271, 18,8% of the total number), «fell» by 80.6% in August compared to the same period in 2019. The first place in the number of travelers who visited Catalonia was taken by the French – 55,2% of the total number (data from the National Institute of Statistics).
Catalonia is followed by the Balearic Islands – 453.794 tourists (18,6%), with a fall of 79.9% compared to lastAugust. Valencia community was in third place – 430.092 tourist (17,6%), with a fall of 66,2% compared to the year 2019. Let’s remind, totally inSpain the fall in the number of foreign tourists was 75%compared to last year.
At the same time, attention should be paid to the fact that the situation with coronavirus in the Valencian community is much better than in many other regions of the country. In this regard, Belgium recently announced the cancellation of quarantine and tests for those tourists who return from the Valencian community, while these measures continue to be in place for other Autonomous regions of Spain. In addition, the sector is looking forward to opening the UK for tourism that, according to some sources, could be as early as later this month.
