Spain has seen unprecedented tourism figures again in July, consolidating a record year for the industry.
37.9 million foreign tourists had come to Spanish shores by the end of last month, a 4.7% increase on the same period last year.
According to the latest figures released by Frontur via the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, the first seven months of the year have beaten all previous records, and the forecast for the rest of 2015 suggests that a new annual tourism record will be set.
2014 was also a record year with 36.2 million tourists from January to July, way above the 2013 record of 33.9 million.
The month of July itself was also a record breaker, with 8.8 million foreign tourists heading to Spain - the best July figures on record and a 6.3% increase on the 8.2 million that came to the country in July 2014.
These figures reinforce the recent forecast made by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Borrego, that Spain would welcome 65 million foreign tourists this year.
The British are once again top of the tourist list, with 8.7 million coming to Spain between January and July, 3.5% more than in 2014; they are followed by the French with 6 million (7.8% more), and Germany with 5.8 million (1.3% up). These three countries continue to account for 54.5% of all the foreign visitors to Spain, followed by the nordic countries with 2.9 million visitors (down 4.6% on last year); Italy with 2 million (+7.3 %); and the Netherlands with 1.6 million (+4.1 %).
The greatest increase in tourist figures, however, has come from the American market, with a 21.3% increase in the number of tourists coming to Spain from the United States (893,359 in total). Other notable increases in tourist figures came from South Korea, China and Japan, up 40.9% as a group over the first seven months of 2015. On the downside, there has been a 37.5% drop in the number of Russian tourists coming to the country.
Catalunya had the most tourists between January and July (9.7 million, +5.5%), followed by the Canary Islands (6.5 million, +0.9%), the Balearic Islands (6.5 million,+3.9%); Andalusia (5.1 million, +7.1%; the Valencian Community (3.6 million, +4%; and Madrid (2.9 million, +10.7%).
