Madrid saw a 22.5% increase in tourists
Spain saw a 10.2% increase in tourist numbers in September with 7.9 million international visitors, according to figures from the INE.
The UK was the country of origin for the majority sending 2 million tourists to our fine shores. This represents 25.4% of the total and an increase of 12.8% when compared to September 2015.
The number of German and French tourists also increased in September. 1.3 million Germans and a million French visited, representing annual increases of 1.2% and 9.9%, respectively.
Other emitting countries to show significant annual growth were Ireland (+26.9%) and the USA (38.8%).
Year to date
In the first nine months of 2016 Spain has received 60.3 million international tourists. This is 10.1% more than in the same period last year.
Major emitting countries for the first nine months are the UK (14.4 million tourists, an increase of 13% over the same period last year), France (9.3 million tourists, an increase of 9.6%) and Germany (8.9 million visitors, an increase of 4.3%).
Destinations (Autonomous Communities)
Catalonia received the lion’s share of tourists in September with 23.8% of the total. Visitors to the Balearic Islands accounted for 23.6% while Andalusia took 14.1% of the total.
1.9 million tourists visited Catalonia in September representing an annual increase of 4.7%. The main emitting countries for those tourists were France (18.9% of the total) and the UK (13.6%).
The Balearic Islands received close to 1.9 million visitors, an increase of 10.6%. 33.9% came from Germany and 31.3% from the UK.
Andalusia saw 1.1 million international tourists in September, annual growth of 12%. The UK was the emitting country for 28% of the total.
Other communities so see a significant increase in tourist numbers were Madrid (+22.5%), Canary Islands (+15.6%) and Valencia (+14.8%).
Over the first nine months of this year Catalonia has received 14.5 million tourists, an increase of 4.4% over the same period in 2015. The Balearic Islands have seen 11.5 million, 10.6% more than last year. The Canary Islands saw an increase of 13.2% with 9.6 million visitors.
