The Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE) announced that in the first half of 2021, from January to June, Spain was visited by only 5.4 million foreign visitors.
According to a press release issued by INE, the number of travelers who arrived this year before July is about half of the number of travelers who arrived in the same period in 2020, which amounted to 10.8 million international travelers in January and February, to the pandemic, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
“In the first six months of 2021, the number of tourists visiting Spain decreased by 49.6 percent and exceeded 5.4 million people. During the same period last year, 10.8 million foreign tourists arrived, ”INE said.
In the same press release, it was noted that this year’s figures are much lower than about 38.1 million international travelers who entered Spain in the first half of 2019, which led to a record number of arrivals of 83.7 million people .
In June 2019 alone, 8.8 million people visited the country, which is more than the total number of arrivals in the first six months of 2021.
As for the total costs of foreign tourists, there is also a decrease. From the beginning of January to June, international travelers spent about 5.8 billion euros, which is 51.4% less than in the same period in 2019, and half the amount spent last year.
“In the first six months of 2021, the total cost of international tourists decreased by 51.4% compared to the same period last year, reaching 5,765 million euros,” explains INE.
However, it was noted that the average length of stay of foreign tourists in June 2021 was 7.4 days; thus showing an increase of 1.4 days compared to the average for the same period in June 2020.
In addition, the data showed that the country has the largest number of visitors from France and Germany, each of which had 1.2 million visitors, followed by Italy with 310,000 visitors and the Netherlands with 290,000 visitors.
In contrast, only 273,333 visitors were from the United Kingdom due to restrictions imposed by the British government on the British until May. Compared to June 2019, this is a huge difference, which has greatly affected the country’s economy.
As for the Spanish regions that received the largest number of foreign tourists during the first six months of 2020, the Balearic Islands (1.3 million visitors), Catalonia (975,000 visitors) and the Canary Islands (750,000 visitors).
Spain is currently experiencing the fifth wave of COVID-19, although the country has one of the highest rates of vaccination.