Spain received more than 5 million international passengers in August

Spain received five million passengers from international airports in August, an increase of 172% compared to the same month in 2020.

The figure already represents almost half (48.6%) of the arrivals in a record August 2019, according to data released today by the Spanish tourist body Turespaña.

The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, celebrated this data because "ot confirms that the gradual recovery trend of international travellers that began last March is being consolidated."

"The progress made in vaccinating the population, together with the instruments put in place to reinforce Spain as a safe destination, such as the EU Covid digital certificate, have enabled more than five million international air passengers to come to Spain. The UK government's decision to relax its travel regulations from 4 October is a step in the right direction that will help increase mobility with our main source market. Spain is open to UK residents who are fully vaccinated or travelling with a negative PCR," she added.

The increase in international passengers has been recorded in all major source countries, with the United Kingdom as the leading market for the first time in 2021.

British tourists

Passenger arrivals from British airports have tripled (an increase of 212.6%) compared to the same month in 2020 and reached 821,853 people this August, mainly to the Balearic Islands.

The second source country of international passengers to Spain in August was Germany, with 803,558 passengers whose main destination was the Balearic Islands; followed by France (540,679), Italy (491,698), the Netherlands (369,269), Switzerland (221,369), Belgium (203,404), Portugal (136,907), Ireland (119,781), Poland (113,527) and Denmark (90,951).

All of these countries recorded growth of more than 75% compared to August 2020, with increases of more than 400% in the case of Denmark and Ireland.

Compared to August 2019, the Netherlands is the country with the highest recovery, reaching 83% of the passengers from two years ago this August, followed by Poland (80.9%) and France (73.5%).

Main destinations

The Balearic Islands was the main destination region, accounting for more than a quarter of international passenger arrivals (25.9% and 1.29 million travellers).

It was followed by the Madrid (18.4% and 923,738 passengers), Catalonia (18.3% and 915,387), Andalusia (12.3% and 615,809), the Canary Islands (11.5% and 574,345) and the Valencia (11.4% and 570,081).

Catalonia and Madrid were the regions with the highest year-on-year growth (249.6% and 213.2%, respectively).

By airport, Palma de Mallorca received the highest volume of international passengers (18.5% of the total), followed by Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (18.4%), Barcelona (17.1), Málaga (10.4%), Alicante (7.3%), Ibiza (5.5%), Tenerife Sur (4.3%), Valencia (4.1%), Gran Canaria (2.7%) and Fuerteventura (2.2%).

Of the total number of international passengers who travelled to Spain in August, the majority (60.1%) travelled on low-cost airlines, while the remaining 39.9% opted for traditional airlines.