Spain registered 30% more international passengers than in March 2022

Spain’s official tourism website, Turespana, has revealed that during the past month, more than 6.5 million air passengers arrived in Spain, marking an increase of 30% compared to the same period in 2022, putting the country back on track to pre-pandemic levels according to the new Minister of Tourism, Héctor Gómez.

During the first quarter of the year, the largest number of passengers arriving in Spain came from the EU with 55.6%, an increase of 25% over 2022, while the flow from the rest of the world, which accounted for the remaining 44.4%, increased by 35.7%.

Compared to last year’s figures, the markets that recorded the highest growth this year are Portugal, with 63.2% more, followed by the United States and Ireland, with 42.9% and 38.9%, respectively.

In addition, the country with the most passengers in March was the UK (1,426,007), an annual increase of 33.3%. At the same time, the UK represented 21.9 % of the total share of arrivals.

Spain has registered 3.4 million British passengers so far this year, and this has affected all Spanish regions, especially the Canary Islands, which was the top destination in the country with 35.7% of its passengers.

The second country of origin for international passengers remains Germany, from where a total of 873,738 passengers or 13.4% of the total, arrived in Spain in March. This represents an increase of 19%, from which the Canary Islands again was the main beneficiary with 31% of the total.

Third is Italy with 9.1% % of the passenger flow received in March or 592,207 passengers in total. Italy also recorded a year-on-year increase of 31.4%, from which Catalonia (32.1% of passengers) and Madrid (32.0%) benefited the most.

In March 2023, France also was a source for 7.4% of all passengers, marking an increase of 19.0%, which mainly favoured Madrid and Catalonia. At the same time, the Netherlands also recorded a 10.2% increase in international passengers, with the Community of Valencia, Catalonia, and Andalusia as the main destinations.

The Spanish community that registered the most arrivals during the last month was Madrid, with 27.2% of the total, followed by Catalonia with 20.8% and the Canary Islands with 20.2%.