Tourists spent 10% more than last year
The total expenditure of international tourists visiting Spain increased in March when compared to the same period last year. Total tourist spend in March was 4,838 million Euros, representing an increase of 10% over March 2015.
Despite the overall increase in total spending, both the average daily spend, and the average expenditure per tourist fell slightly.
The average daily spend fell to 126 Euros, 2.4% less than in March 2015, while the average expenditure per tourist fell by 5.3% to stand at 1,003 Euros per tourist.
The average length of stay also fell but only marginally, showing a decline of 0.2 days to stand at 8.0 days per visit.
During the first Quarter of the year, total tourist expenditure increased by 7.4%, reaching 12,253 million Euros.
Tourist Origin
As expected, UK tourists accounted for the majority of the spending with 20.5% of the total. The Germans followed with 15.7% of total spend coming from German pockets, while the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) contributed 11.5% of the total spend.
When compared to March 2015, spending by UK tourists increased by a massive 26.8%, while Germans spent 9.4% more than last year. Tourists from the Nordic countries also spent more this year with their spending increasing 7.8%. Meanwhile, tourists from France recorded an increase in total spend of 3% while the Italians spent 10.8% more than last year.
When looking at quarterly results, UK tourists accrued the highest cumulative spend accounting for 18.8% of the quarterly spend, with Germany following with 13.8% of the first quarter total spend.
Spend by Autonomous Community
The top three communities in terms of tourist spend were the Canary Islands with 30.7% of the total spend followed by Catalonia (19.1%) and Andalucia (15.1%).
In the Canary Islands and Andalucia there was an increase in tourist spending of 18.4% and 18.8%, respectively. However, in Catalonia the total spend showed a decline of 5.6%. The Balearic Islands recorded the largest increase in spending with 38.9% more than in the same period last year.
Cumulatively, for the first three months of 2016 the top areas by spend are the Canary Islands accounting for 32.3% of the total, while Catalonia accounts for 20.1%.
Accommodation Type and Reason For Travelling
Tourists staying in hotel accommodation accounted for 60.4% of the total spend in March, showing an annual increase of 11.9%.
Tourists travelling independently (not with a tour package) increased their total spend by 14.5%, representing 69.8% of the total, while package holiday travellers spend increased by only 0.9%.
Regarding the travellers reason for visiting, those who were here for leisure accounted for 78.6% of total expenditure, representing an increase of 13.2% increase over March 2015.
