FOREIGN tourists’ visits to Spain have fallen in number for the twelfth month running, reveal worrying figures from the Ministry of Industry.

Between January and May, 18.34 million holidaymakers came from abroad, a fall of 11.8 per cent on last year’s 21.6 million.

Of this May’s total of five million foreign visitors, 62 per cent – 3.1 million – were from the UK, Germany and France.

British visitors have declined in number by a staggering 17.8 per cent in the past year.

Similar figures were seen for those from Germany and France, and a drop of between nine and 12 per cent was recorded in tourists from the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy.

One of the worst-hit regions is the Comunidad Valenciana with a fall of 19 per cent, followed by the Canary Islands (14.5 per cent), Andalucía (12.2 per cent) and the Balearic Islands (8.5 per cent).

The only region that has seen a slight increase – 0.3 per cent – in the number of foreign holidaymakers is the Comunidad de Madrid.

Overall, despite recording a drop of 11.2 per cent in visitor numbers, Catalunya has seen the most tourists from abroad in the first five months of this year with 4.62 million people heading to the north-eastern region.

The ministry’s figures show that 71 per cent of holidaymakers booked their own accommodation and flights, without opting for package deals.

Just under two-thirds chose to stay in hotels rather than holiday apartments or villas.