In June, Spain welcomed more than 8.2 million foreign tourists. Thus, the total number of arrivals approached pre-pandemic volumes. The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism reported on the wild success.
According to the agency, in June 2022, the European country popular with tourists reached 85.5% of the levels registered in the same month in the previous year 2019 and exceeded the indicators registered in June last year.
Ranking of donor countries
Although holidaymakers have flocked to Spain’s resorts in droves, arrivals remain below pre-spring levels, with more than three times as many holidaymakers registered in the country in June this year as in 2021 – a staggering increase thanks to the easing of some restrictions on the fight against the coronavirus.
Great Britain has traditionally provided Spain with the largest number of tourists. One in four tourists who arrived in the Pyrenees country in June 2022 were British. According to the ministry, the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera) registered the largest number of British holidaymakers. In total, Spanish airports received 2,079,084 passengers from Great Britain.
“The Canary and Balearic Islands are leading the way in the recovery of foreign travelers, no doubt helped by the return of British tourists in 2022, who already account for one in four passengers. Thus, our islands are approaching pre-pandemic indicators, first in the high season, for which we have encouraging prospects even in the current conditions of rising prices,” said Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto.
In addition to tourists from the UK, Spain also received a large number of travelers from Germany and Italy. The Germans took second place overall in terms of the number of arrivals: in June 2022, 1,322,410 holidaymakers from Germany came to Spain. Italy was in third place. A total of 716,042 tourists from Italy reached Spanish soil in June 2022. Most of them flew to Catalonia and Madrid.
In addition, Spain also registered a large number of arrivals from France. More than 647,000 French tourists entered Spain in June 2022.
Preliminary findings of success
This year, Spain showed a high rate of tourism recovery. Yes, recently it was able to return 9 out of 10 international bookings made in the dock-like year of 2019. According to the Ministry, this summer, tourists found the greatest demand for the islands of Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Santa Cruz de la Palma, and Malaga. It is expected that all these directions will adopt volumes exceeding the indicators of the previous June 2019.
However, given the recent events in Europe – chaos at airports and flight cancellations – the final figures for tourism may change. Read details here.