Visitors leave 1,257 euros in Spain on their vacations, almost 200 euros more per person than in 2019, although total spending remains 15% below
In the month of March alone, 4 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain, which already represents 71% of those who landed in our country in the same month of 2019, before the pandemic broke out. And they spent more than they did then: 1,257 euros on average each, almost 200 euros more than the 1,068 euros in March 2019.
And the average daily expenditure grows by 20% to 157 euros, and that the average duration of international tourist trips is 8 days, 0.5 less than in March 2021, according to data published this Thursday by the INE. That is 7 euros more a day than what they spent in March 2019.
Even so, total spending remains 15% below 2019 levels, but already exceeding 5,000 million. Specifically, total revenue reached 5,069 million euros, which represents an increase of no less than 830% compared to the same month of 2021, although it must be taken into account that at that time there were still exit restrictions in some countries due to the pandemic.
The Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, explained in a statement that this trend will “intensify” in the summer period, with results that “make us optimistic” such as scheduled air capacity on international flights from April to June, which exceeds 29 million seats.
In the accumulated of the year, the total expenditure of visitors increased almost 800% compared to last year, reaching 11,853 million euros, 3,500 million less than in the first quarter of 2019.
The British in the lead
Of the 4 million foreign tourists who arrived in Spain in March, the majority were British. A country that, after leaving restrictions behind, has recovered pre-pandemic levels. In March, 826,400 British tourists arrived, 18% of the total, and spent 1,013 million euros in Spain, 20% of the total.
In the first three months of the year, the number of tourists increased by almost 700% compared to the first quarter of 2021, reaching almost 9.7 million visitors, compared to only 1.2 million last year.
After the United Kingdom, German and French tourists visited our country the most, with 608,800 and 457,000 arrivals, respectively. Among the rest of the countries, the growth compared to last year in Ireland (+2,500%), the United States (1,900%) and the Nordic countries (1,300%) stand out.
The main destination of these tourists was the Canary Islands (33% of total spending in March and 1.1 million visitors), Andalusia (15% of spending and 610,000 people) and Catalonia (14.5% of total spending and 703,000 tourists).
Paradores exceeds pre-pandemic occupancy and income
Paradores has recovered its level of occupancy and income after two years of the pandemic. The hotel chain has sold a total of 352,652 rooms during the first four months of the year, which added to the restaurants has meant revenue of 71.8 million euros, 11.5% more than in the same period of 2019.
The president of Paradores, Pedro Saura, highlighted this Thursday in a statement that these “good figures” are the result of a “robust recovery” in demand, both nationally and internationally, for a more attractive offer of tourist products and experiences.
This recovery trend was slightly interrupted by the omicron variant and by the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, but it was reinforced at Easter, with an average occupancy of over 88%, and the May long weekend, with an occupancy of 73%.
Paradores has stated that the return to pre-pandemic levels will allow them to keep their accounts healthy and, together with European funds, to execute their investment plans both in the conservation and maintenance of establishments and in projects aimed at developing “sustainable, digitized and affordable tourism”. experiences”.
Paradores closed the year 2021 with a net profit of 3 million euros with a total of 1.08 rooms sold, exceeding forecasts.
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