August figures from the national tourism agency Turespaña point to the Balearics having had the highest number of foreign air travel passengers in Spain. There were 1.29 million, a quarter of the some five million at all airports.
The total for Spain was up 172% over last August but was just under half the number in August 2019, when a record was set.
Speaking about these figures, Spain's tourism minister Reyes Maroto said on Monday that the progress of the vaccination campaign and tools which reinforce Spain as a safe destination, such as the Digital Covid Certificate, "have allowed more than five million international air passengers to come to Spain".
She added that the British government's decision to make its travel regulations more flexible from October 4 was "a step in the right direction that will contribute to increasing mobility"; the UK is Spain's largest tourism market. "Spain is open to residents of the United Kingdom vaccinated with a complete schedule or travelling with a negative PCR."
In August, the UK reclaimed its usual leading position for the first time in 2021. Arrivals were up 212% compared with August 2020. There were 821,853 British tourists, most of whom went to the Balearics.
Germany was the second largest market, with 803,558 travellers in August, and German tourists also made the Balearics their priority destination. Third was France (540,679), which has headed the monthly travel figures on several occasions over the past year.
The Balearics leadership in August (25.9% and 1.29 million travellers) was followed by Madrid (18.4% and 923,738 passengers), Catalonia (18.3% and 915,387), Andalusia (12.3% and 615,809), the Canaries (11.5% and 574,345) and Valencia (11.4% and 570,081).
By airport, Palma had the highest number of international passengers (18.5% of the total), followed by Madrid (18.4%), Barcelona (17.1%), Malaga (10.4%), Alicante (7.3%) and Ibiza (5.5%).