International tourists visiting Madrid during the first seven months of this year spent on average 4.3% more than in the same period last year. These are the findings of the Tourists Expenditure Survey by the Institute of Tourism Studies of Spain (Egatur).
The daily expenditure made by foreign visitors also grew by 5.6%. With the amount of revenue from tourism accrued until July, the region stands as the sixth community with increased income.
For the month of July, the income from international tourists reached EUR 448 million which shows a decrease of 2.9% compared to last year. During the same month, the spending per tourist stood at a rate of 1,335 euros which implies an increase of 8.6% compared to 2012. The daily expenditure amounted to EUR 163 per day, 14% more than during the same month last year.
In Spain as a whole the expenditure of foreign tourists reached 32.210 billion in the first seven months of the year which represents an improvement of 6% over the same period in 2012.
According to the study, average daily spending increased until July by 2.1% (EUR 108), while the average expenditure per tourist increased by 2% to EUR 949.
The tourists who spent the greatest amount of money in July were British with EUR 6.358 million which accounted for 19.7% of the total, spending 5.7% more than others. They were followed by German tourists with EUR 5.150 million, 2.1% more, visitors from Nordic countries, with EUR 3.413 million, 18.5% more, and the French with EUR 3.056 million, 16.4% more.
With respect to autonomous communities, Balearic Islands benefited the most in July with an increase of 1.7% in spending to EUR 2,053 million; Cataluña, with a rise of 8.5%, has increased spending to EUR 161 million. In July, Andalusia and the Canaries were the ones that registered the largest increase over the year with 8.9%, EUR 1,128 and EUR 911 million, respectively.
Also, so far this year, Cataluña is the leading community with a total expenditure of EUR 7.685 million, representing 23.9% of the total and an increase of 9.8% over the same period in 2012 followed by the Canaries with EUR 6,240 million, a 7.7% increase.
In Baleares tourism spending increased by 6.9% to EUR 5.672 million with increased expenditure of German and British tourists. Andalusia recorded EUR 4.669 million in tourist spending which is 4.5% more, representing 14.5% of the total.
Madrid received EUR 2.857 million euros from tourists, 1.5% less, and captured 8.9 percent of the total expenditure incurred. Foreign tourists who visited the Valencian Community increased its budget from January to July, up to 8.8% to EUR 2,894 million euros.
Meanwhile, the expenditure made by foreign tourists in hotel lodging in the first seven months of the year accounted for 65.5% of the total and increased by 6.4%, while non-hotel lodging registered an increase of 5.3%.