Tourism on the rise again

FOREIGN tourists spent a total of €20.129 million between January and May; that is 9.1 per cent more than in the same period last year.

The biggest spenders were the British, German, Scandinavians and Asians, while the biggest benefactor of this spending was the Canary Islands.

May’s total spend was a whopping €5.273 million which is an historic maximum and a rise of 3.5 per cent compared to last year.

Hotels are still the most popular place to stay while on holiday with 66 per cent of tourists using them; the average stay was of eight and a half days.

The average tourist spends €939 in those eight and a half days which is €18 more than in 2013.

The Canary Islands were the biggest benefactor receiving 26.6 per cent of the total spend; Andalucia received 16.3 per cent, Madrid 11 per cent, Cataluña 5.4 per cent and Valencia 1.2 per cent of the total.

Of tourists visiting Spain 65.1 per cent were on a ‘free’ holiday meaning they had not booked a package deal, although package deals saw a rise of 20.5 per cent in their bookings.