The Canary Islands closed the month of January with 1.2 million foreign tourists who spent 1.7 billion euros, which represents an increase of 58.5% and 50.9% respectively, according to data made public this morning (Friday) by the Institute National Statistics Office (INE) which underlines that the figures are above the pre-pandemic records.
The archipelago led the market share with 29% of all tourists arriving in Spain, and more than 33% of these came from the United Kingdom.
Regarding spending, the Canary Islands also led the market by accumulating 32.7% of the total, with an average spend per tourist of 1,416 euros, 4.8% less than in the same month of the previous year.
Daily spending stood at 163 euros (+9.4%) and the duration of the trip fell by 13% to 8.7 days. In both cases, the indicators are already above the pre-pandemic levels given that in January 2020, 1.1 million international tourists arrived on the islands spending 1.4 billion.
Spain also returned to pre-pandemic tourism figures in January receiving a total of 4.1 million international tourists, 65.8% more than the same month last year, who spent around 5.2 billion euros.
The Minister of Tourism for Spain, Reyes Maroto, said "these extraordinary data show that tourism will be one of the driving forces of the Spanish economy this year; with figures like these we are closer to our goal: to adapt tourism to the 21st century, enhancing its quality".
CANARY ISLANDS LEADS TOURISM
The Canary Islands, a traditional European winter tourist destination, was the favourite region of Spain chosen by international tourists in January, with 29% of all visits, followed by Catalonia (19.2%) and Andalusia (13.8%).
Of the 1.2 million foreign tourists that visited the Canary Islands in January, 33.2% of the total were British and 18% were Germans.
The number of tourists who used hotels or rental housing for their accommodation increased by 71.6% compared to January 2022. Within this type, hotel accommodation grew by 63.2% and privately owned homes by 128.7%. People staying in the homes of relatives and friends also increased by 52.7%.
Leisure, recreation, and holidays were the main reason for travelling to Spain for 3.4 million tourists (+70.3% over the previous year), followed by business or other professional reasons for which 267,551 arrived (80.4% more).
The average duration of the stay among tourists was between four to seven nights. According to INE data, the number of visitors increased by 35.4% among those who did not stay overnight (hikers) and 29.9% among tourists with longer stays (more than 15 nights).
By items, spending on activities/excursions was top of the list in January with 23.8% of the total (+71.2%), followed by international transportation (22% of the total). Half of the spending (55%) was made by tourists who stayed in hotels (+69.7%), although the spending of those who stayed at the homes of friends and relatives also grew by 70.4%.
