Spain recovers 72% of international tourists attracted before Covid
Spain was visited in November 2021 by a number of international tourists equivalent to 72% of those who arrived in that same month of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to fresh data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The more than 3.3 million tourists who visited Spain in November also represent an increase of 54% compared to 2020 and bring to 28.2 million the accumulated figure in the first 11 months of the year.
Tourist spending increased at a higher rate, 63.8%, reaching 31,274 million euros between January and November, the statistical office says.
Seven times more tourists arrived in Spain in November than a year ago. The United Kingdom was the main source market, with 597,458 tourists, (17.8% of the total), followed by France, with 496,579 tourists, and Germany, with 479,403 tourists.
The main destination for foreign visitors was the Canary Islands (it received one million foreign visitors), where three out of ten tourists went, mainly British and German. Catalonia was the second, with 604,925 tourists coming mostly from France. Andalusia ranked third, with 485,504, mainly from the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries.
Higher tourist spending
Tourist spending in November represented three-quarters of the records for the same month in 2019. Tourists who visited Spain in November stayed on average one day longer than in 2019. Specifically, the average duration of trips has risen from 6, 8 days in November 2019 to 7.9 days in the same month this year.
As a consequence, the average expenditure per tourist also increases to 1,119 euros compared to 1,086 euros in November 2019.
For the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, these data "confirm that the recovery of international tourism continued its gradual advance in November, despite the increase in infections in our main European markets."
"Month after month we see how Spain is getting closer to the volumes of tourists and spending that it had in 2019, although the uncertainty associated with the (pandemic) new wave could delay the recovery of the pre-pandemic levels in international tourism," she added.