United Kingdom and Germany account for 40% of the visitors and the Nordic market is the largest contributor to overall growth.
According to figures released this week, 6.3 million foreign tourists visited Spain in June, representing an increase of 5.3%, 320,000 tourists, more than a year ago, and represents the best figure on historical record for the month, with the tourism ministry stating that the figures have never reached 6 million people in any June on record. In the first half of the year, the number of international tourists exceeded 26.1 million, up 4.2%, or 1.1 million people, in the same period of 2012.
The UK and Germany remained the major source of these visitors, accounting for about 40% of all arrivals, but the Nordic market has shown the biggest overall growth.
As for where these tourists are going, the Balearics topped the June charts, with 1.7 million arrivals, whereas comparing the first half of the year Catalonia is top with 6.6 million.
Despite the Balearics showing a 9% increase in June, catering for an additional 142,000 tourists, mainly from the British and German market place, Valencia showed again, for the third consecutive month, the highest rate of increase, by 9.8%, thanks to the UK and Nordic countries. On the opposition, tourism to Madrid fell by 12%, due to the reduction in interest from Italy and the USA.
Overall, the number of visitors from the United Kingdom grew by 4.9% in June, now accounting for nearly 27% of international arrivals, up 1.69 million, German tourism showed a slight drop of 0.5%, French tourists increased for the eighth consecutive month, with an increase of 1%, most of them coming to Madrid and Valencia.
Now recognising the major growth in Nordic Tourists, there has been an increase in 26% on the year, tourists from the Netherlands grew by 8.2%, the Italian market continued to decline, but all of that was absorbed by the staggering 37.4% increase in tourists from the Russian.
The vast majority of tourists Spain arrived by plane, increasing traffic by 6%. Hotel accommodation rose 9.8% in June, and those choosing to “go it alone” and not rely on package holidays increased their market share by 10.3%, with package deals showing a drop of 4.2% in total.
