Date Published: 02/12/2019
ARCHIVED - Visitors from the UK to Spain spent 2.15 million euros per hour in October
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Fewer visitors from the major European countries but more money spent across Spain as the UK accounts for over 21 per cent of the total
As was the case in 2018 this summer was a relatively disappointing one for the international tourism sector of the Spanish economy, and data published on Monday by the central government’s statistics bureau show that the autumn began in similar vein as the number of people coming to this country from abroad was lower in October 2019 than in the equivalent month last year, the fourth decrease of this kind in the last five months.
The total of 7.62 million visitors reflects the fact that the figures for each of the three major sources of foreign tourists dropped in October. Top of that list, once again, was the UK with 1.66 million visitors (4.4 per cent fewer than in October 2018 but still 21.7 per cent of the overall total), far outstripping the figures for any other individual country.
The next highest figures after the UK relate to visitors from Germany (1.13 million after a drop of 8.3 per cent) and France (895,000 after a decrease of 1.7 per cent), followed by the Scandinavian countries with 566,000 (1.7 per cent higher than in October 2018). Other noteworthy results include an increase of 17.2 per cent in in the number of people visiting from Russia (106,000) while there were also similar increases in intercontinental tourism for the categories of “the rest of America” (excluding the USA) and “the rest of the world” (excluding Europe and the Americas).
The main features of the breakdown by the six main tourist regions are a 9.1 per cent decrease in the Canaries and rises of over 5 per cent in Andalucía and Madrid: the Costa Cálida falls within the catch-all category of “other regions”, in which there was a rise of 0.9 per cent.
Underlining the importance of the British market to the sector, in October the UK was the largest source of foreign visitors to Andalucía (24.6 per cent of all foreign tourists), the Canaries (36.4 per cent) and the Comunidad Valenciana (30.5 per cent), and the second most important market in the Balearics (27.8 per cent).
On the other hand, though, despite there having been fewer foreign visitors the amount they are calculated to have spent in Spain in October was 2.5 per cent higher than in the ninth month of 2018 at 8,367 million euros, while the contribution to the Spanish economy of those arriving from the UK fell by just 1.1 per cent to 1,598 million euros. Average daily spending by the British was 2.7 per cent higher than a year previously at 132 euros per person, and despite the fact that there were fewer visitors arriving the UK still accounted for 19.1 per cent of all international tourist spending in this country.
In more easily comprehensible terms, of the 11.25 million euros spent EVERY HOUR in Spain by foreign visitors in October, 2.15 million of them came from the pockets of those coming from the UK!
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