The statistics show that tourism in Spain brings bigger revenue. Foreign tourists spent 53.793 billion euros in the first nine months of the year, up 6.3% from the same period in 2014, with a 2.4% increase in average spending per tourist and a rise of 3.8% in average daily spending.
Specifically, the average spending per tourist stood at 989 euros, up 2.4%, while average daily spending was 112 euros, up 3.8% from January to September 2014, according to the Survey of Tourist Spending (EGATUR) conducted by the General Department of Knowledge and Tourism Studies, a division of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism.
Between January and September, relatively speaking, the leaders were the Asian countries, USA, Italy, Belgium and Canada, which recorded the highest annual increases in spending, all exceeding 15%. In absolute terms, the UK is ranked as the leading source market for tourism in Spain, accounting for 21.4% of total spending. All the regions recorded growth in total spending and in average spending per trip. The average stay was down slightly to 8.8 nights.
The UK increased to 11.535 billion euros (+ 10.5%), with an average British tourist spending of 905 euros (+ 7.1%) and an average daily spending of 105 euros (+ 9.9%).
From January to September, Germany controlled 14.5% of total spending by foreign visitors in the accumulated data but recorded a fall of 1.4% to 7.787 billion euros during the period, due to the average spending per tourist falling by 0.6% to 942 million, compared with average daily spending which rose by 1.1% to 101 million euros.
France, with 10.4% of total spending, increased by 6.3% to 5.576 billion euros during the first nine months of the year, with a 0.6% drop in average spending per tourist to 607 million euros, while the average daily spending was 80 euros, up 0.7%. In September, the total French spending fell 6.5% to 672 million euros.
For the Nordic countries and Italy, the former fell by 3.8% compared to the 16.5% rise to 4.302 and 2.601 billion euros respectively for Italians in the first nine months of the year.
Catalonia saw the highest foreign tourist spending from January to September, with 12.502 billion euros, up 2.4%, accounting for 23.2% of the total, thanks to the rise of 2.7% in average daily spending as against the 0.8% drop in average spending per tourist.
It was followed by the Balearic Islands, with tourist spending up 6.6% to 9.930 billion euros (+ 18.5%) thanks to a 4% and 6% increase in average spending per tourist and per day to 953 and 118 euros respectively.
The Canaries rose by 4.8% to 9.540 billion euros from January to September, due to a 7.5% increase in average daily spending to 117 euros, compared to a 3.6% rise in the average spending per tourist, which stood at 1,128 euros.
International tourists spent 4.8% more on non-hotel accommodation in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 19.420 billion euros, which represents 36.1% of the total.
Average spending per tourist in non-hotel accommodations was 949 euros per tourist, up 0.6%, while average daily spending grew by 2.1% to 78 euros per day.
Hotel accommodation accounted for 63.9% of the total, up 7.2% to 34.373 billion euros, with an average spending per tourist of 1,014 euros (+ 3.5%) and an average daily spending of 149 euros (+ 4.9%).
The main increase for tourism in Spain was in non-package tours which grew by 6.8% to 36.103 billion euros, 67.1% of the total, while tour-package trips increased 5.4% to 17.690 billion euros, representing 67.1% of the total.