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The Ministry of Tourism has revealed that a total of 5.2 million passengers reached Spanish airports in January, which represents 98 per cent of the volumes recorded in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.
According to data by Turespana, 55.8 per cent of arrivals travelled by low-cost companies, surpassing the levels of people to use such companies for transportation while the remaining 44.2 per cent travelled in traditional air service providers – reaching 91 per cent of January 2020 levels, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The majority of arrivals were recorded from the United Kingdom, accounting for 18.2 per cent of all arrivals, followed by Germany (11.8 per cent) and Italy (10.2 per cent), while Catalonia experienced the highest increase in tourists – 102 per cent more than in the corresponding time in 2022.
In addition to Brits, Germans and Italians, French and Dutch travellers were also top visitors in Spain for January, representing 8.1 and 4.9 per cent of all arrivals, respectively.
“From the Government, we are deploying a very ambitious tourism policy to modernize our tourism model that is already having its results in terms of quality, sustainability and digitization of destinations and companies in the sector, which will help maintain our international leadership,” Reyes Maroto, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism pointed out, also adding the result shows an excellent start of the year.
Arrivals from all countries experienced increases this year but ones that stand out are those from Portugal as the number of visitors by this neighbouring country rose by 142.8 per cent compared to 2022. The United Kingdom and Italy followed, with the number of arrivals by these countries rising by 124.5 and 111.6 per cent, respectively.
The Canary Islands were the most visited destination by British and German travellers, as 43 and 40.5 per cent of their flights were headed there, while passengers to Italy were mainly flying to Madrid (33.4 per cent) and Catalonia (30.5 per cent), similar to those from France, with 35.2 and 25.9 per cent of them visiting these two destinations, respectively.
The number of arrivals rose by 76.5 per cent for destinations like Madrid, Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, which represent 97.4 per cent of all arrivals.
About 30 per cent of the total visitors reached Madrid, followed by the Canary Islands (23.3 per cent) and Catalonia (20.8 per cent).
Madrid also received the highest increase in arrivals on traditional airlines (56 per cent) while Catalonia registered the largest increase compared to the corresponding time in 2022 (58 per cent).
As per low-cost companies, Catalonia represented the community with the highest share of arrivals (26.3 per cent) while also representing the highest growth compared to the previous year as arrivals rose by 113.4 per cent.
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