According to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on Tuesday, the number of international tourists that came to the Canary Islands in May this year, increased by 9.7% over last year with 969,343 visitors. In addition to this, the year-to-date increase is even higher at 21%, with 5.9 million visitors so far in 2023.
During May, the Canary Islands ranked as the region with the fifth-highest number of tourist arrivals, with an 11.8% market share. The Balearic Islands had the most with 21.9%, followed by Catalonia with 21.8%, then Andalusia (14.7%), and Valencia (12.2%). The United Kingdom remained the primary source market, accounting for 43.9% of foreign tourists, followed by Germany at 14.8%.
Tourist spending also saw an increase of 3.6%, amounting to 1.27 billion euros. The average expenditure per tourist was €1,312 which is 5.6% less compared to the same month last year. However, the average daily expenditure rose to €167, representing a 6.5% increase.
The average duration of stay has increased to 7.9 days which when compared to May 2019, the reference year before the pandemic, international tourist arrivals grew by 8.3%, and spending increased by 15.8%.
Record tourist figures in Spain for May:
Nationally, Spain received a record-breaking 8.2 million international tourists in May, marking a 17.6% rise from the same month in 2022 and a 3.8% increase from May 2019. These visitors also contributed to a record expenditure in May, reaching 9.7 billion euros, an increase of 20.8% compared to the previous year and 19.5% when compared to the pre-pandemic peak.
In the first five months of the year, Spain has had 29.2 million international visitors, experiencing a growth of 27.9% compared to the previous year, with total spending reaching 35.4 billion euros, a 31.9% increase from the same period in the previous year and 15.8% above 2019.
