More than five million international tourists visited Spain in November, a figure that puts the destination one step away from surpassing the pre-pandemic and historic 2019, a tourist year that closed with 83.7 million international travelers. Between January and November, a total of 79.85 million tourists traveled to the country, a figure slightly above (0.8%) that recorded in 2019, but compared to the same period in 2022, it skyrockets to 18.2%, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics published yesterday. The most remarkable figures, however, refer to tourist expenditure, which reached 101,569 million euros during the first 11 months of the year, 16.9% above what was recorded in the same period of 2019.
"Currently it is not safe to travel everywhere right now, as we are seeing in our environment, with open conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East", reflects Marta Domènech, Director General of Tourism of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The good weather we've had until recently and which continues in destinations such as the Canary Islands - at its peak this November - has led to this summer's tourist boom extending into traditionally low-season months, such as October and November. Specifically, Spain received a total of 5.1 million international tourists in November, 18.6% more than in the same month in 2022 and 10.5% more than the same month in 2019. By the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, "the arrival of tourists and spending at the destination have accelerated significantly in the second half of the year, especially the months that were historically considered low season, with double-digit growth, which has an impact on very positive way in the national economy, both in terms of GDP and employment".
The United Kingdom was, with almost one million tourists (15.2% more than in 2022), the main sending country, followed by France, with 641,986 tourists (9%), and Germany (623,155 visitors, an 18, 5% more). The Russian tourist, very important in Catalonia, where he has come to represent 40% in destinations such as the Costa Brava, "has neither been seen nor expected", acknowledges Domènech, a profile that throughout the year they have compensated Irish and Italians equally. For the president of the Tourism Board, Juan Molas, the big surprise has been markets such as the North American, the Swiss and the Portuguese, "not because of the absolute value of the figures, but because of their spectacular growth", with a 39, 4%, 19.9% and 17.4% boom, respectively.
In addition to the growth in volume, the increases in tourism spending are just as significant or more significant, already surpassing 2019 with more than 100 million euros (6.6 million in November alone). Each tourist spent an average of 1,294 euros in November, 4.2% more than in 2022. Spending per day also reflects this growth, reaching 173 euros, 4.1% more than a year ago. Another differential fact, according to Molas, is that "both the covid and the new trends of the traveler have caused the population to discover a new way of doing tourism in the campsite, which has registered spectacular growth", which in other years had been more modest
