Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) announced the number of tourist visits and their average spending in March 2022.
The average expenditure of tourists visiting Spain in March stood at €1,257, an annual increase of 13.6% and up from €1,068 in March 2019. Total expenditure, meanwhile, is over €5 billion, 84% of pre-pandemic levels. In terms of the number of visits, Spain received 4 million international tourists in March, 71% of those arriving three years ago.
The United Kingdom was the main source market in March with nearly 826,399 tourists (18.3% of the total) and in terms of spending volume with €1,013 million (20.0% of the total).
“The recovery of tourism continues to consolidate month by month. Spain closes its first quarter of 2022 with good figures for international tourist arrivals and tourist spending, a trend that we expect to intensify in the summer period. The excellent employment figures that we have seen in April, and specifically in the hotel and catering sector due to the extraordinary Easter Week, together with the recovery of pre-pandemic levels in scheduled air capacity on international flights, which exceeds 29 million seats for the April-June quarter, are results that make us optimistic”, said the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
In the first three months of 2022, the number of tourists visiting Spain increased by 696.7%, reaching almost 9.7 million. In the same period in 2021, 1.2 million tourists arrived.
In terms of expenditure, during the first three months of 2022, the total expenditure of international tourists increased by 794.5% compared to the same period the previous year, reaching €11,853 million.
In terms of countries of origin, Germany and France are the second and third most important countries, with figures of 608,803 (482.2% more in annual rate) and 456,592 (332.0% more) tourists, respectively.
Among the other countries of residence, the annual growth of tourists from Ireland (2,593.7%), the United States (1,976.5%) and the Nordic countries (1,292.8%) should be highlighted.
The autonomous regions with the greatest weight in tourist spending in March were the Canary Islands (with 33.1% of the total), Catalonia (14.8%) and the Community of Madrid (14.5%). The main item of spending was activities, followed by international transport not included in the package tour and accommodation.
Main destinations
The Canary Islands was the first main destination for tourists in March, with 27.9% of the total (1.1 million tourists). In second and third place were Catalonia 703,849 (17.5%) and Andalusia 609,437 (15.1%).
In the Canary Islands, 1,017.8% more tourists arrived than in March 2021. The main countries of residence of tourists from this community are the United Kingdom (with 35.1% of the total) and Germany (18.2%).
