Spain Received 4.6% More Foreign Tourists in January
February 23rd, 2012
According to the Survey of Tourist Movements (Frontur) released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Spain received a total of 2.77 million international tourists in January, which represents a 4.6% increase over the same month of 2011. The main source markets experiencing good results remained the UK, Germany and France.
However, the biggest increase came from the Netherlands, with a 40.4% increase in tourists, amounting to 140,338 visitors, which is equivalent to 5.1% of the total.
Cinco Dias reported that, by region, the Canary Islands had the highest percentage of foreign visitors, with an increase of 8.1%, and 33.7% of total arrivals.
The main markets had a favourable performance in the first month of 2012, with the exception of Portugal, who stood out with a decrease of 15.2% in tourist arrivals to Spain. There were fewer visitors also from Belgium, with 5% less, and from the U.S., down 2%.
United Kingdom was the first source market, with an increase of 5.7% in tourist arrivals and representing 19.1% of the total visitors received. In January, nearly 530,000 British tourists came to Spain, with the Community of Madrid and the Canary Islands being the two main destinations of choice.
Germany remained the second largest market for tourists, with 15.7% of total arrivals, 0.6% fewer than last year, but reaching almost 438,000 visitors received. The autonomous communities who benefited most were the Community of Madrid, Catalonia and the Canary Islands, who experienced an increase in German tourist arrivals, while the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and Valencia experienced declines.
The third largest source market was France, with 352,789 tourists, representing 12.7% of the total arrivals and an increase of 6.3%, which centred on the Community of Madrid and their main destination, Catalonia.
Apart from the principal markets and the increase of 40.4% of tourists from the Netherlands – which were distributed mainly between the Canary Islands and Catalonia, followed by the Community of Madrid, to a lesser extent – the “remarkable” increase of 61.4% of visitors from Russia was also noted, which represented 19,000 tourists more than a year ago.
The Canary Islands, the main destination in January, received 8.1% more foreign tourists, reaching 936,515 visitors, and 33.7% of the total arrivals, and was the community that contributed in absolute terms to the monthly growth, with 70,000 more tourists than a year ago. The Netherlands, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom were the main source markets influencing this result.
Catalonia, with 22.3% of the total arrivals, experienced an increase of 8.2%, to 618,426 visitors, representing 46,600 more tourists, in absolute terms, thanks to the increase of tourists from the Netherlands and France.
In third place is the Community of Madrid, which recorded the biggest increase, rising by 15% to 342,826 tourists, which is 44,600 more visitors than last year. This growth was due to the increase in tourists from the UK, Germany, Latin America and the Netherlands.
Andalusia, the fourth most popular destination, saw a drop in January of 10%, down to 300,500 visitors, which is due to a decrease in tourist arrivals from Italy.
The region of Valencia received almost 23,300 less visitors in January, after registering a drop of 9.1% to 233,703 visitors, due to the fall in arrivals from Britain, France and Germany, their main markets.
Finally, tourist arrivals to the Balearic Islands fell by 22.6%, to 86,905 visitors, which is 25,400 tourists less than in January 2011, and equivalent to 3.1% of total tourist arrivals in the month, explained by the decrease in arrivals from Germany.
Tourists arriving by air increased 5.9% in January, still being the choice for 83.3% of visitors who came to Spain, while those arriving by road decreased by 0.4%.
Hotel hospitality increased by 3.1% in the month, and was the choice for 57.2% of the tourists, while non-hotel accommodation experienced a rise of 7.1%, and private homeownership saw the best overall increase, being the choice for the remaining 42.8%.
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