Tourism revenues set a new record in the first quarter: 17.2 billion euros

Abigail Brewer 2 years ago 2 min read

During the first quarter of 2023, international tourism set a new record: during the first three months of the year, the sector received a total of 17,201 million euros, up 44.7% over the previous year. If we break that number month by month, January got 5,218 million, February 5,326 and March 6,657, which are 71.7%, 41.1% and 31.1% more than in 2022, respectively, according to the data. Provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). ). In the same period last year, the expenditure of foreign visitors amounted to 11,853 million euros, and in 2019, 15,393, so that the amount obtained in this exercise promotes recovery and leaves behind the impact of the epidemic.

In this line, the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics also shows information on tourist movements. Between January and March, Spain welcomed 13.7 million international visitors, up 41.2% from the same period in 2022, when 9.7 million tourists were recorded. This data also exceeds that of 2019 when 12.8 million was reached.

inflation effect

Looking at the data for the month of March, total tourist spending in 2023 amounted to 6,657 million euros, average spending 1,266 euros, and daily expenses 168 euros, compared to 6,037 million euros of total spending, and 1,069 of average spending and 150th of the daily spending recorded in 2019. For its part, in March 2023, 5.3 million international travelers crossed the Spanish border compared to 5.6 in 2019, data that reflects the impact of inflation in the sector. From tourism to the point where fewer people generate half a million euros extra income.

Origin and destination of tourists

The United Kingdom figures prominently as a major source country during the first three months of the year with 2.6 million tourists, followed by France and Germany, both with close to 1.7 million passengers. For the month of March, the names are repeated. During the third month of 2023, Spain received 1.1 million tourists from the United Kingdom, or 20.3% of the total. Germany contributed 673,584 and France 613,323. In addition, the annual growth of tourists from the United States, Portugal and Italy also stands out.

Similarly, the data provided by Statistics also indicates that in the first three months of 2023, the communities that received the largest number of tourists were the Canary Islands, with more than 3.7 million, Catalonia, with about 2.8 million, and Andalusia. , by about 2 million. As was the case with the origin of the tourists, in connection with the month of March, the most selected Autonomous Communities are repeated. The Canary Islands account for 24.7% of the total, Catalonia 19.5% and Andalusia 15.3%.