According to forecasts made by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, during June, July, August and September, 41 million international tourists are expected to arrive in Spain, 13% more than in the same period in 2023.
This summer, spending by international tourists will grow by 22% compared to the previous year to exceed 59,000 million euros, according to forecasts prepared by Turespaña based on a time series model. Likewise, the number of visitors will increase by 13% year-on-year to more than 41 million tourists.
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International tourists will spend more than 59 billion euros on their trips to Spain this summer, 22% more than last year
The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, who advanced these forecasts during a visit to the headquarters of the State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR), pointed out that “Spain’s attractiveness is being confirmed month after month”.
70 million euros for the Last Mile programme
During his visit to the SEGITTUR headquarters, the minister also announced that a total of 327 projects are beneficiaries of nearly 70 million euros from the second call for “Last Mile” grants aimed at boosting the digitalisation of tourism SMEs, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and financed with European Next Generation funds.
The digitisation of the tourism sector is key to continuing to attract increasingly hyper-connected tourists with higher value-added stays. It is also one of the areas where Spain has the greatest room for improvement, according to the tourism competitiveness indicators measured by the World Economic Forum. For this reason, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan devotes preferential attention to the digitisation of tourism companies and destinations.
The number of beneficiary companies in this second call has risen to 394, as some projects require the joint participation of two or more entities. Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia are the autonomous regions where companies have received the most aid.
Within the grants, there are three lines of funding: line 1, for projects that incorporate emerging or newly developed technologies with medium-low technological risk; and line 2, for projects that demonstrate proven technologies such as Big Data, cybersecurity, and mobile applications, with low technological risk.
Six projects have been approved for line 1 – three related to the data space and another three for the digitisation of the sector – and 5.6 million euros have been granted. And in the second line, aimed at projects for the implementation and adoption of new technologies incorporating proven technologies, 16 projects have been approved, and 4.7 million euros have been granted.
The third type of projects financed with this aid are those for the implementation, by SMEs, of tested technologies related to sensitization, visitor safety, tourism demand, infrastructure equipment, etc. In this line, which is the only one eligible for 100% subsidy, 305 projects have been approved and have been granted 59.1 million euros.