Spanish Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto estimates that more than 71.5 million international tourists will have visited Spain in 2022. That is 85.6% of the pre-pandemic level. In 2019, Spain welcomed 83.5 million foreign travellers.
Maroto stressed in her statement that this represents a 129% increase from 2021, when Spain received a total of 31.1 million travellers.
International tourism spend in Spain
In terms of cumulative spending, this would amount to €87.1 billion, according to the tourism minister. That is 5.6% lower than the 2019 figure, when it was over €92 billion. Compared to 2021, the figures for spending by international tourists were 150% higher last year.
Longer stays, higher spending
With these figures, Maroto said that “2022 will be remembered as the year of tourism recovery after the impact of the pandemic”. Tourists are eager to come to Spain again. According to the minister, this is due to the control of inflation in the last months of 2022, along with the measures taken by the government to deal with the impact of the war in Ukraine. ‘The increases in spending and average length of stay, offer reason for optimism for 2023’.
Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) announced on Wednesday that Spain received a total of 67.4 million tourists in the first 11 months of the year. This represents a 138.9% increase from the 28.2 million spent in the same period a year earlier. Moreover, total spending by these tourists amounted to almost €82 million, almost 161% more than in the same period last year.
