Spain poised for fifth consecutive annual increase in tourism

What’s boosting Spain’s tourism? Brits, city breaks, and the threat of terrorism elsewhere…

Spain is on course to smash last year’s tourism figures, which will mean that the country will register five straight years of annual increases in visitors, new data from tourism industry group Exceltur has shown.

The group forecasts tourism in 2017 to increase by 4.1% compared to 2016, which would see visitor numbers run close to 80 million for the year, if correct…

Last year, more than 75 million tourists visited Spain, and Exceltur’s new forecast is an increase on the previous 3.2% increase estimate. This upgrade is a result of a stronger-than-expected spring and Easter season, and a fine start to the summer season.

Explaining the reason for its reassessment of Spain’s tourism fortunes, Exceltur said that a “strong increase in foreign demand” had prompted the upgrade.

Spain has long been a firm favourite for package holidays in the summer, but its growing reputation as a cultural hub for weekend city breaks has also begun to have a strong impact. In the first half of the year, Spanish cities registered a record number of overnight stays, with Madrid alone seeing 2.7 million visitors between January and May – an annual increase of 19%.

Barcelona, naturally, is always popular, but other cities such as Málaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Córdoba and Seville have also seen their popularity grow. Exceltur’s Vice President José Luis Zoreda believes that Spain’s combination of accessibility, climate and perceived safety – given recent terror attacks in Berlin, Paris and London – mark the country’s cities out as particularly attractive destinations.

The scourge of terrorism elsewhere has also boosted Spain’s summer tourism. Exceltur calculates that Spain currently “borrows” around 14 million tourists annually who ordinarily would have holidayed elsewhere, chiefly Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and France.

By nationality, Brits remain by far the most dominant group, prompting Zoreda to stress: “The Brexit effect has not been felt, quite the opposite.” American visitor numbers are also up 19% in the past year, while Asian visitors – largely Chinese tourists – have increased by a massive 35%, the data shows.