¿Qué Crisis? Spanish Tourism Blossoms in 2011
October 25th, 2011
With a total of 5.8 million tourists, September saw growth of 9.2% compared to last year. This figure represents an increase of almost half a million tourists (492,000) and makes September 2011 the third best month ever in terms of growth.
45.8 million tourists came to Spain between January and September, 3.4 million or 8% more than in the same period of the previous year. Should the trend continue for the rest of the year, 2011 would close with approximately 57 million inbound tourists having visited Spain. This would make 2011 the fourth best year ever.
The United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and France were the markets that made the largest contributions to the growth in tourist visits.
Accounting for 28% of all tourists in September, the United Kingdom was the top source of tourists, with year-on-year growth of 11.4% in the month and 9.2% in the first nine months of the year. September was therefore the sixth consecutive month of year-on-year growth for the United Kingdom market for tourism in Spain. The most popular regions of Spain among British tourists were the Canary Islands, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Region of Valencia.
Germany was second, with 18.8% of the total (1.1 million tourists) in September and year-on-year growth of 6.8%. German tourists mostly opted for the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Catalonia. 7.2 million German tourists visited Spain in the first nine months of the year, 1.7% more than in the same period of the previous year.
With 11.5% of all tourists, France recorded growth of 9.9% in September. There was a particular increase in the number of French tourists visiting Andalusia and Catalonia, with 4.8% growth in terms of the total number of French tourists visiting Spain in the first nine months of the year.
More than 747,519 tourists visited Spain from Russia in the first nine months of 2011. This figure represents growth of 23.5% on the same period of the previous year. Russia therefore consolidates its position as have the greatest potential for growth.
As for the performance of the other markets in September, a 29.2% increase from the Netherlands and a 27.3% increase from Switzerland are worthy of special mention.
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