80 Million International Passengers Visited Spain Last Year
A total of 80.4 million international passengers visited Spain last year, accounting for 85 per cent of the number of travellers arriving in the country in 2019.
The data provided by the national tourism body of Spain, Turespaña, also revealed that in December 2022, the number of passengers from international airports reached 5.7 million. This means that the country has recovered 95 per cent of passengers that travelled through these airports before the pandemic, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Commenting on these data, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said that the year 2022 had been the year of the recovery of tourism in Spain, adding that excellent numbers have been registered, especially in employment, with a record number of subsidiaries in the tourism sector, and with the arrival of international passengers as well.
“The markets that have registered the greatest recovery, compared to pre-pandemic figures, is Ireland, with 140,602 travellers (14.2 per cent more than in 2019), followed by France, with 492,101 travellers (5.8 per cent more) and Portugal, with 216,833 passengers (4.0 per cent higher than the same month in 2019),” the reports of Turespaña explains.
In addition, during the last year, 2.2 million travellers arrived from Ireland, 6.5 million from France, and 2.6 million from Portugal.
The United Kingdom was the top market of passengers in December sending 1,158,536 passengers to Spain, representing a 20.1 per cent share of total arrivals, followed by Germany with 726,697 or a 12.6 share and Italy with 532,877 passengers or a 9.3 per cent share.
British passengers recorded 18.5 million arrivals in total for the year, the majority of them travelling to the Canary Islands. This region also benefited from the arrival of German passengers with 11.9 million, while Madrid and Catalonia benefited mainly from the arrival of Italians (7.1 million).
The communities that recorded the highest number of arrivals in December are as follows:
- Madrid – 1.6 million
- Canary Islands – 1.3 million
- Catalonia – 1.1 million
Moreover, Catalonia was the community that recorded the highest year-on-year growth, with 57.8 per cent compared to December 2021. Meanwhile, compared to December 2019, the Canary Islands are the only community to show a recovery in arrivals over the previous December with 6.9 per cent.
Regarding the number of passengers arriving in Spain by air, 56.2 per cent flew with a low-cost airline, three per cent less than in 2019, while 43.8 per cent chose a traditional company, which is 7.5 per cent less than in the period before the pandemic.
