The data on tourist movements at borders (Frontur) made public by the Spanish statistical institute show that the figures for the end of 2022, which are close to 72 million registered tourists, are still 14.3% below those recorded in 2019, a record year for Spanish tourism in which 83.7 million foreign visitors to our country exceeded 83.7 million.
For the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, these data confirm the intense recovery of the tourism sector in 2022. “The expectations we had of recovering the majority of international tourists from the pre-pandemic period have been fulfilled, but the most important thing is that spending is growing more and also the average stay, and this means an improvement in the quality and profitability of our sector,” she said.
The main countries of residence of tourists visiting Spain last year were the UK, France and Germany. Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom increased by 251.3%, those from France by 73.3% and those from Germany by 87.4%.
By regions, the auronomous community of Catalonia was the principal destination in 2022, with 20.7% of the total number of tourists. It was followed by the Balearic Islands (18.5%) and the Canary Islands (17.2%).
Most of the international tourists arriving in Spain came by air, a total of 59.3 million, an increase of 142.5% over the previous year. Nearly 11 million international visitors arrived by road, an increase of 71.8%. Hotel or rented accommodation was used by 59.5 million tourists (140.3% more than in 2021) and homes owned or rented by family or friends by another 12 million (87.8% more).
The majority stay in 2022 was between four and seven nights, and the majority of visitors (54.1 million) came to Spain without a tourist package, twice as many as in 2021. These data confirm the end of a positive year for tourism in Spain, which in December was visited by 4.1 million international tourists, 39.9% more than in the same month in 2021.
