Tourist arrivals to Spain exceeded 6 million in March, 21% more than in the same month last year, and spending amounted to 8,652 million euros in the same month.

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International tourist spending grows by 27.2% in the first quarter

The arrival of international tourists and tourist spending in Spain has experienced a notable growth in March, culminating a historic first quarter of the year for tourism, which this year has included Easter. In March, 6.3 million international tourists visited our country, 21% more than in March 2023, according to data published today by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

In addition, Spain once again broke its record for tourist spending in this month. Foreign visitors brought in 8,652 million euros, which represents a growth of 29.7% compared to the figure for March last year. In the first quarter of the year, spending by international tourists grew by 27.2 % to 21,948 million euros and the number of visitors increased by 17.7 % to more than 16.1 million tourists.

For the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, “this first quarter of the year, traditionally conceived in the past as a low season, has turned out to be the best in our historical series, with an outstanding growth in spending at the destination and in the average spending of international tourists, which perfectly reflects the change in the tourism model”.

The statistics for average expenditure per traveller and average daily expenditure, which, together with the average stay, are three of the best thermometers to measure the effectiveness of the policies led by the ministry to improve the quality of tourism, have once again improved for another month. Each tourist spent an average of 1,363 euros in March, 7.3% more than last year, and spending per day also reflects this growth, reaching 180 euros, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year. Spending per day also reflects this growth, reaching 180 euros, an increase of 5.4 % year-on-year.

The United States, third market in terms of expenditure
The United Kingdom continues for yet another month to top the list of tourist-sending countries, with 1.2 million people in March and an increase of 13.3 % compared to March 2023. From Germany, the second most visited country, 909,031 tourists arrived (28.7 % more than a year ago) and from France, the third in the ranking, 791,648 tourists visited us (31.8 % more than the figure for March 2023). From the United States, 285,498 people visited us in March, an increase of 10.4 %, while from Asian markets (China, Japan and South Korea, among others) 250,978 tourists arrived, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.2 %.

In terms of spending, tourists from the United Kingdom who visited in March spent 1,365 million euros, an increase of 17.8%. The second country in terms of spending was Germany, whose nationals spent 1,207 million euros on their holidays in Spain, an increase of 45.1% compared to March 2023. In third place is the United States, with 755 million euros and a year-on-year growth of 34.3%. And in fourth place is France, with 600 million euros of expenditure and an increase of 26.4%.

Leading the list of countries with the highest growth in international tourist arrivals this March is France, with an increase of 31.8 % compared to a year ago; in second place, Belgium experienced a rise of 30.3 %; and third place went to Germany with a year-on-year increase of 28.7 %.

The Canary Islands continue to lead in arrivals and expenditure
The Canary Islands was the first main destination for tourists in March, with 24.3% of the total, followed by Catalonia (21.2%) and Andalusia (15.1%). The Canary Islands received 18.9% more tourists than in March 2023. The number of tourists visiting Catalonia increased by 27.9 % and 19.8 % more tourists came to Andalusia.

The autonomous communities of the main destination with the greatest weight in tourist expenditure in March were the Canary Islands (with 26.9 % of the total), Catalonia (17.3 %) and Andalusia (16.9 %). Tourist expenditure increased by 20.9 % in annual rate in the Canary Islands, by 38.1 % in Catalonia and by 47.6 % in Andalusia.

In the first three months of 2024, the regions with the highest cumulative expenditure were the Canary Islands (with 29.7% of the total), Catalonia (16.6%) and the Community of Madrid (15.5%).