Spain welcomed a record number of tourists in 2023, with around 84 million international visitors going to one of Europe’s most popular destinations. While other countries in the EU still stood below pre-Covid levels and worldwide tourism is only expected to make a full comeback by the end of the year, Spain was one of the countries that led to the tourism sector in the EU to already exceed 2019 figures last year.
The 84 million visitors represent a 17% increase compared to 2022 and are 1% more than the 83.7 million tourists Spain saw in 2019, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu confirmed on 19 January. However, while the increase in the number of visitors is of only 1%, they spent 17% more than in 2019, amounting €108 billion and accounting for 12.8% of the country’s GDP. “All in all, 2023 has been a very positive year and a record year … we are still on the same path to prosperity”, Hereu said.
Looking ahead to this year, the minister refrained from making any long term…