The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain rose by 4.8 percent to 54.3 million people in the first 10 months of 2013, compared to the same period of 2012.
The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism announced that the number of international arrivals broke a new record high from January to October. Germany, France, UK and Nordic countries are the ones who have contributed to this new international tourism growth. Catalonia is the most international tourism has received in October, with more than 132,000 tourists.
UK in October was positioned as the main source market of tourists to Spain, with a total of 1.3 million and an increase of 5.8%. Although its main target was Canary, Valencia was the one that was most benefited, with growth of 15.5%, which represents some 30,000 tourists more. In the first ten months of the year, 13 million Britons have come to Spain, an increase of 4.6% and a 24% stake in the joint tourism received.
More than one million tourists visited the country in October from Germany, 18.9% of the total, representing an increase of 10.9%. Baleares was the main destination and together with Catalonia and Andalusia, the community that grew in absolute terms. So far this year, more than 8.8 million Germans have visited Spanish tourist destinations, an increase of 4.7%, representing 16.3% of the total.
With a sharp increase of 15%, the French market reached 756,602 tourists in October, with the main destination Catalonia, with almost 40% of the total. From January to October, 8.5 million French have traveled to Spain, an increase of 6.4% and a share in the overall tourism received 15.6%.
The Nordic countries sent 474,000 tourists to Spain, an increase of 17.9%. The largest number of arrivals was in the Canary Islands. As of October, more than 4 million Nordic arrived in Spain, an increase of 17.7%.
Italy returns to the downward trend that began in October 2011 and backs up to -6.8% this month. Positive behavior in Catalonia, which was their main target, was not enough to offset the sharp drop in Madrid. In the first ten months of the year just under 2.9 million Italians have arrived in Spain, 9.6% less than the same period last year.
From other source markets Russia and the Netherlands arrivals increased by 34.8% and 8.8%, respectively.
Spain is expected to receive a total of 60 million international tourists in 2013 after several months of breaking records high in the number of visitors. Spain is the second most important tourist destination in terms of receipts and receives the fourth largest amount of foreign tourists globally.
