More than 88.5 million international travellers visited Spain during the first eleven months of the year 2024, 10.7% more than in the same period last year.
The accumulated expenditure of international tourists between January and November 2024 amounts to more than 118,000 million euros, an amount that exceeds the record expenditure reached for the whole of 2023 (108,000 million) by 10,000 million. Up to November 2024, spending by international tourists has grown by 16.7% and the number of visitors for the same period increased by 10.7% to reach 88.5 million tourists, an amount that also already exceeds the historical accumulated figure for the twelve months of 2023, which was 85 million.
According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), 5.6 million international tourists were received in November alone, 10.3% more than in the same month last year. Furthermore, in that month, foreign visitors brought in 7,709 million euros, which represents an increase of 16% year-on-year.
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Cumulative spending by international tourists rises by 16.7% to over 118 billion euros
In detail, and as has been the case throughout practically the whole of the recently completed 2024, November’s tourism expenditure data have seen improvements in the chapters on average expenditure per traveller and average daily expenditure which, together with the average stay, are three of the main clues for weighing up the effectiveness of the tourism policies carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.
In November, each visitor spent an average of 1,361 euros, 5.2% more than last year, and the expenditure per day also reflects this growth, reaching 178 euros, an increase of 2.4% year-on-year. The average stay is 7.6 days, slightly higher than a year ago at 7.4 days.
Notable increase in Italian and French tourists
As usual, the United Kingdom was the main country of residence of the tourists who visited us in November, with one million and an increase of 5.5% compared to the same month in 2023; from France, the second, we received 751,182 tourists (an increase of 17.4%); from Germany 650,733 tourists arrived (4.4% more), and from Italy, the fourth in the ranking, 369,097 tourists were received (22% above the figure for the same period last year and the highest increase for a country this month). The main countries of origin in the first eleven months were the United Kingdom (with 17.5 million and an increase of 7.1%), France (with almost 12.2 million and an increase of 11.5%) and Germany (with almost 11.3 million, an increase of 8.5%).
In terms of spending, UK nationals – those who spend the most in Spain – spent 1,161 million euros in November, an increase of 8.7%. The second country in terms of spending was Germany, whose nationals spent 957 million euros on their holidays in Spain, an increase of 20.2% compared to November 2023. In third place is France, with an expenditure of 582 million euros and a year-on-year growth of 22%, which places the neighbouring country as the market with the highest percentage increase in spending this month among the main countries.
Increasingly decentralised destinations
The Canary Islands was the top destination for tourists in November, with 25.6% of the total. It was followed by Catalonia (22.2%) and Andalusia (13.7%). The Canary Islands received 8.6% more tourists than in November 2023. The number of tourists visiting Catalonia increased by 9.7% and 8.7% more tourists came to Andalusia. In the first eleven months of 2024, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands are the autonomous communities with the most visitors.
A noteworthy fact this November is the more than remarkable increase of 40.9% in the arrival of international tourists to all communities – beyond the six historically large recipients (Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Canary Islands, Madrid and Valencia) – which shows the effectiveness of the policies of deconcentration of tourism implemented by the ministry.
In terms of spending, the autonomous communities of the main destination with the greatest weight in tourist spending in November were the Canary Islands (with 28.6% of the total), Catalonia (17.9%) and Madrid (15.7%). Tourist expenditure increased by 13.4% in annual rate in the Canary Islands, by 8.8% in Catalonia and by 13.1% in Comunidad de Madrid. In the first 11 months of 2024, the regions with the highest cumulative expenditure were Catalonia, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
As was also the case with arrivals, in the expenditure chapter, the significant increase -of 35.5%- in the group of autonomous communities that are not considered the main destination stands out.