Between January and May of this year, Spain welcomed 8.2% more tourists than the same time the previous year, with 21.4 million people visiting the country, according to the information released by the tourism ministry.
May of this year also represented the best figure in history, an increase of 5.7% over last year, with 6.8 million tourists.
The British led the way in terms of numbers, with 4.9 million people choosing to holiday in Spain during the first five months of the year, an increase of 6.9%.
Meanwhile, showing a considerable growth was from the German market, with an increase of 8.1%, bringing 3.5 million tourists to Spain. France increased by 11.1% to 3.4 million, and the Nordic countries grew by 8.6% to 1.9 million.
Seem by many as the boom market of the future, Russian tourism growth started to slow, with an increase rate of 2.8%, but visitors from Portugal and the US showed a decrease, with Portuguese visitors down 2% to 0.59 million people, and 9.1% fewer Americans came over, now standing at just 0.4 million.
The Canary Islands was the most popular destination with an increase of 13%, with more than 4.8 million tourists landing on the archipelago. Andalucía was next with a 10.8% increase to 2.8 million, although the Valencia region still fared well with an increase of 7.1% to 2 million people.
The Balearic Islands were not so popular, perhaps losing out to the islands of the south, showing a decline of 2.5% during the first 5 months, a drop to 2.4 million visitors.
In terms of how those tourists arrived, by air is still the most popular choice, with 82.4% choosing to fly, an increase of 8.5%, although there was still a 6.3% increase of those arriving by road.
The amount of money spent by foreign tourism in Spain from January to May 2014 also rose by 9.1 percent year-on-year to over 20 billion euros ( over 27 billion U.S. dollars), the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism reported on Thursday.
According to the Ministry tourists from Germany, Britain and Nordic countries spent the largest amounts of money in the country.
The British spent about 4 billion euros in Spain, followed by the Germans and visitors from Nordic countries who spent more than 3 billion euros and over 2 billion euros respectively in the first five months of the year.
The amount spent by the British increased by 12.3 percent when compared with the same period in 2013, while the amount spent by the Germans rose by 10.6 percent. Money spent by visitors from Nordic countries increased by 10.8 percent.
International visitors spent the largest amount of money in the archipelago of the Canary Islands, in which visitors can enjoy good weather during winter. They spent more than 5 billion euros there in the first five months of 2014, which meant a 15.2 percent more than a year ago.
The Canary Islands were followed by the northeastern region of Catalonia and the southern region of Andalusia where international visitors spent more than 4 billion euros and over 3 billion euros respectively.
Only in May, international tourists spent more than 5 billion euros.
