Between January and September, the Balearics welcomed a total of 13,709,686 foreign tourists, which is 3% more than in the same period last year, while in September alone, 2,187,288 international visitors came to the islands, an increase of 1.8%. Spain recorded a record 76.5 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of the year, 3.5% more than in the same period in 2024 (73.6 million), according to data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The cumulative expenditure of foreign visitors in the country reached a record figure of €105.828 billion between January and September, up 7% year-on-year, and in the case of the Balearics, it was €18.378 billion, up 5.9%. During the first nine months of the year, international visitors to the Balearics spent 2.8% more compared to the same period in 2024, with an average expenditure of €1,341 and €218 per day, an increase of 4.9%.
In September alone, Spain received 9.7 million international tourists, 0.8% more than in the same month in 2024, while spending rose to 13.364 billion, an increase of 6%. In September, with the end of summer, the year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals moderated in the country to 0.8% more compared to the same month in 2024, with some 9.7 million foreign arrivals at tourist destinations.
Spending, on the other hand, rose to 13.364 billion, up 6%, with an average per tourist of 1,380 and a year-on-year increase of 5.1%, while average daily spending at the end of the summer grew by 4.5% to 204. In the Balearics, tourist spending in the ninth month of the year increased by 5.3% to €2.843 billion. The average expenditure per visitor was €1,300 per person, up 3.4%, and each tourist spent around €213 per day, up 4.1%.
Of the three main source countries, only the United Kingdom, with almost 2.1 million tourists, experienced a year-on-year increase in September (2%). Germany (2.5% down; 1.3 million tourists) and France (1.6% down; 1.1 million) saw a decline in the number of visitors compared to September 2024.
In the first nine months, 15.3 million tourists arrived in Spain from the United Kingdom (4% more); 10.2 million from France (0.1% down); and 9.5 million from Germany (1.4% more). By autonomous community of destination, Catalonia led the way between January and September, with 15.8 million foreign tourists, although it remained flat in year-on-year terms. The Balearics added 13.7 million in the same period, up 3%; and Andalusia surpassed the Canary Islands, with 11.5 million people, up 7.3%.