Spanish airports received 9 million international passengers in August, which represents 87% of those who arrived in the same month of 2019, according to data published by the Spanish tourism institute (Turespaña) from the records of the airport operator Aena .
So far this year, the number of international passengers arriving by air has reached 53 million.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, has assessed these data as "very positive because they confirm the intense recovery of the tourism sector, which is resisting well the uncertainty generated by the war and inflation. Our forecasts for the autumn are good, although tinged with the prudence that is necessary at such complex times."
The main source markets
August saw an increase in passengers departing from all major countries. One out of every four passengers came from the UK and went mainly to the Balearic Islands. A total of 78.6% of UK passengers flew on a low-cost airline. In total, Spanish airports received 2,240,299 passengers from this market. The UK market has achieved a recovery of 84.6% compared to 2019.
A total of 1,338,855 passengers arrived from Germany, and 14.9% of them in the Balearic Islands. In the case of this market, the proportion of passengers choosing traditional airlines over low-cost airlines is almost 50/50 (51.8% on traditional airlines-48.2% on low-cost airlines) The recovery rate for the German market is now at 87% of pre-pandemic arrivals.
For its part, Italy issued 831,581 passengers, who flew mainly to Catalonia. Eight out of ten passengers from Italy travelled on low-cost airlines. The same destinations were the main destination for the 711,189 passengers coming from France.
Main destinations
The Canary Islands was the region with the highest level of recovery in August, exceeding the data for arrivals in August 2019 by 1.7%, followed by the Balearic Islands, which has recovered 94.4% of pre-pandemic arrivals.
In the six autonomous regions with the highest number of arrivals (97.1% of the total), the volume of international air passengers reached 87.1% of the 2019 figure. The Balearic Islands recorded the highest number of international visitors (2,214,670 passengers), followed by Madrid (1,783,043) and Catalonia (1,775,123).
