The number of international tourists who chose to visit Spain returned to pre-pandemic levels, with a 78.3% increase detected this year and a figure showing that a total of 4.4 million arrivals were recorded in July alone.
According to the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE), the increase was observed on arrivals from France, with 874.189 tourists, representing 19.9% of total arrivals. Moreover, 707.331 tourists came from Germany (64.5% more than last year ) and 555.183 tourists from the United Kingdom, registering an increase of 46.5% compared to 2020.
Moreover, INE data show that Spanish residents made 14.9 million hotel reservations in July 2020, compared to 14.8 million in 2019. Domestic tourism also registered a slight increase in July with 5.8 million domestic tourists. , from 5.7 million in 2019.
However, international tourists spent less money this year in Spain, a decrease of 60%, the gain of about 11.5 million euros in July, compared to 28.3 million euros reported in the same period in 2019.
The period 2020-2021 was the worst season for tourism in Spain, registering the lowest number of arrivals in the last two decades.
However, although tourist arrivals have increased since the beginning of the year, they have decreased by 25.8% compared to last year. The country recorded the lowest number of international arrivals in February 2021, with only 284.311, while 4.4 million international tourists were registered in July.
The Balearic Islands was the preferred destination for international tourists, with 1.320.144 arrivals, representing 30% of total arrivals, followed by Catalonia with 18.5% of total arrivals (814.310) and the Valencian Community with 607.214, marking 13.8% of all arrivals.
Arrivals from Germany accounted for the most tourists registered in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, while in Andalusia, arrivals from the Nordic countries were the majority with 87.166. On the other hand, Madrid was the favorite destination of the Americans, with 46.459 people who visited the city in July.
In Spain, from 3 January 2020 to 7 September 2021, 4.871.444 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 84.640 deaths were reported to the WHO. As of September 2, 2021, a total of 66.788.317 doses of vaccine were administered, with 88.1% of the population vaccinated with the first dose, while 78.1% of the entire population is fully vaccinated.