The province of Alicante was the country’s main holiday destination for Spaniards last summer. The number of Spanish visitors rose sharply, but is still very seasonal.
Domestic tourism grew again in the province of Alicante in 2023. According to figures from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), 7,774,947 Spaniards visited the province. Since 2021, it has been measuring tourist flows based on the positioning of mobile phones.
Records number of Spanish tourists surpassed in 2022
The influx to the Alicante region from other parts of Spain grew by 877,955 people last year compared to 2022. In relative terms, an increase of 12.7%.
Compared to the 2022 figures, the records have been surpassed almost every month. Even in winter, when the number of domestic tourists is always much lower. February was the period with the lowest figures. Nevertheless, 356,857 people from other parts of Spain still came to the province. In February of 2022, there were 353,839.
The increase in January was much larger, from 382,617 visitors to 432,213 in 2023. Growth was also significant in March and April. But in both June and September last year, fewer tourists came than in the same months in 2022.
Summer was again by far the busiest time, with 1,159,323 tourists in July and 1,232,123 in August.
Visitors came a little more spread out throughout the year, In the winter months, cities are also a popular destination.
Holiday destination number one
The Marina Baixa region attracted 1,092,813 Spanish tourists in 2023, which is 4.28% more than in 2022. Benidorm remains the most popular destination. There, too, the differences in visitor numbers between the seasons are large. That is, peaks in summer and, to a lesser extent, in winter. 166,051 tourists came in August, 163,795 in July, and 110,923 in April. Nevertheless, there were still 60,758 domestic visitors in January. In February, there were 53,857 Spanish tourists in the popular holiday destination.
Also read: Almost 40% of Spaniards will spend more on winter travel this year
