October's tourism figures have confirmed what has been evident for some months - 2023 will not only be a record year in terms of tourist numbers in the Balearics, it will be a record year by a huge margin.
For the first ten months of the year there were 17,244,707 tourists, close to 700,000 more than for the whole of 2018, the current record year. Given the growth in 2023, it is not inconceivable that the year will close with a total around the 18 million mark. In November and December last year there were some 530,000 tourists.
In October alone, there were 1,685,376 tourists, 6.2% more than in 2022. Growth was greatest for the French market (up 39%), the Italian market (+42.6%) and the Rest of the World to 82,780, an increase of 50% and which includes the US.
The largest market was Germany - 530,437 (up 5.2%) - followed by the UK with 398,042, a 13.9% increase. Four markets registered decreases - Belgium, the Scandinavian countries, the Rest of Europe and Spain, which fell 10% to 211,736.
For Mallorca specifically, there were 1,245,354 tourists in October, 3.5% more than in 2022. The Spanish decline was notable - down 26% to 113,930. For the ten months, the overall increase was 8.3% to 11,955,300.
Tourist spending for the Balearics in October was 1,742 million euros, an increase of 17%. For the ten months it was up 15.8% to 17,241 million euros.