The British holiday market this year appears to be booming.
The Balearics received 353,718 international tourists between January and February, a figure which represents an increase of 14.3 % compared to the first two months of last year.
In February alone 214,451 international tourists arrived on the islands, 18% more than in that month of 2023, according to the ‘Statistics on Tourist Movements at Borders (Frontur), published today (Tuesday) by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Spending in the region amounted to 434 million euros in January and February, 32.4% more than in the first two months of last year, according to the ‘Tourism Expenditure Survey (Egatur)’.
The average expenditure per tourist was 1,228 euros in the first two months of the year, 15.8 % higher, the average daily expenditure was 154 euros, 10.9 % higher, and the length of stay was 8 days, 4.4 % higher.
In February alone, tourist expenditure was 260 million euros in the Balearics, 41.5% higher than in February 2023; the average expenditure per tourist was 1,123 euros, 19.9% higher, and the average daily expenditure was 169 euros, 14% higher. The average stay was 7.2 days in February, 5.2% higher than last year.
Spain received 5 million international tourists in February, 15.9% more than in the same month of 2023. In the first two months of 2024 the number of tourists increased by 15.6 %.
The United Kingdom was the main market, with 939,712 tourists - an increase of 20.3 % over February 2023.
From France 619,218 tourists arrived (down 1.4 %) and from Germany 592,188 tourists (up 11.3 %).
The main countries of origin in the first two months were the United Kingdom (with almost 1.8 million and an increase of 16.4%), France (with almost 1.2 million and an increase of 7.1%) and Germany (with more than 1.1 million, an increase of 13%).
The length of stay of the majority of tourists was four to seven nights, with more than 2.4 million and an annual increase of 18 %.
The Canary Islands was the top destination for tourists in February, with 28.1% of the total. It was followed by Catalonia (21 %) and Andalusia (14.5 %).
The Canary Islands received 14.4% more tourists than in February 2023. The number of tourists visiting Catalonia increased by 12.9% and 18.6% more tourists came to Andalusia.
Total expenditure by international tourists visiting Spain in February reached 6,747 million euros, an increase of 25.8 % compared to the same month in 2023.
The average expenditure per tourist was 1,347 euros, with an annual increase of 8.5 %; and the average daily expenditure grew by 5.8 % to 173 euros.
During the first two months of 2024, total expenditure by international tourists increased by 25.7% and reached 13,296 million euros.
The main sending countries in terms of the level of expenditure in February were the United Kingdom (with 17.2% of the total), Germany (12.2%) and the Nordic countries (8.7%).
Expenditure by tourists resident in the United Kingdom increased by 36.4 % in annual terms, that of those from Germany by 24.8 % and that of those from the Nordic countries by 26.5 %.