Tourists still flocking to Spain and its islands
Spain received 5.4 million international tourists in March, 9.6% more than in the same month in 2017, according to figures from the INE.
The UK was the main source of travellers in March with 1.2 million Brits visiting. This represents 22% of the total international travellers. It also represents an increase of 5.6% when compared to the same month last year.
Germany and France were next with 819,714 Germans (14.1% annual increase), and 650,445 French travellers (5.7% annual increase) visiting Spain in March. Other source countries to show significant increases were Portugal (29.7% increase), Ireland (22.2%), and the Netherlands (12.7%).
Autonomous Communities
The Canary Islands was the main destination for tourists in March, with 25% of the total visiting the islands. They are followed by Catalonia (22.5% of the total) and Andalusia (14.6%).
More than 1.3 million tourists visited the Canary Islands, 5% more than in March of last year. The main countries of residence of those tourists are the United Kingdom (with 34.2% of the total) and Germany (19.3%).
The number of travellers visiting Catalonia increased by 5.1% to exceed 1.2 million. 21.2% came from France and 12.6% from the rest of the world.
The third most popular destination by number of tourists was Andalusia, with 784,910 and an annual increase of 8.9%. The United Kingdom is the main country of origin (with 26.4% of the total), followed by Germany (12%).
In the rest of the communities, the number of tourists increased by 23.3% in The Balearic Islands, 17.4% in Valencia, and 17% in Madrid.
January to March
In the first three months of 2018 the total number of international visitors choosing Spain increased by 6% to exceed 13.7 million.
The main emitting countries so far this year are the UK (with around 2.9 million travellers, and an increase of 0.4% compared to the first three months of 2017), Germany (with about 1.9 million tourists and an increase of 7.9%) and France (with almost 1.7 million tourists, 0.7% more than last year).
Over the first three months of 2018 the communities that received the most tourists are the Canary Islands (with more than 3.7 million, and an increase of 1.7% over the same period of 2017), Catalonia (with almost 3.1 million and an increase of 3.4%) and Andalusia (with more than 1.9 million and a growth of 4.4%).
