Spain smashes August tourism figures

Spain is on course to smash previous tourism records in 2016.

Just as many had predicted, Spain saw record numbers flock to its shores in August, with more than 10 million tourists visiting the country during the month…

Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) has revealed that the 10.1 million people who visited Spain in August is a 5.8% increase on the same month last year, and continues the 2016 trend that has seen every month smash previous records.

Over the first eight months of the year, the cumulative total of additional tourists visiting Spain reached 52.5 million – a 10% rise on the same period in 2015. In other words, by the height of summer this year Spain had seen an extra 5.2 million people visit the country, largely as a result of holidaymakers turning to the country having been deterred from visiting rival resorts such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia due to the threat of terrorism.

Hence, Spain is on course to smash last year’s total figure, which saw a record 68.1 million tourists visit the country over the course of 12 months. By nationality, it is British holidaymakers once again leading the sunscreened charge, growing their number by 13% to account for 12.4 million of the 52.5 million tourists registered in the first eight months of the year.

Visitor numbers from both France and Germany also rose significantly, growing to 8.3 million and 7.6 million respectively.

By region, Barcelona’s enduring popularity as an international playground for fun- and sun-seekers meant that Catalonia was the most visited region in August in terms of sheer numbers (drawing in almost a quarter of the total tourists), followed by the Balearics and the Canary Islands, with the Costa del Sol region in fourth place.