Spain's tourism sector has again posted record figures both for the number of foreign visitors to the country and for their spend. In the first quarter of the year, more than 13.7 million overseas visitors came to Spain, spending a total of 14.735 billion euros in the country.
Today's figures, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) are 6% higher than figures posted for the same period in 2017 (12.93 million foreign tourists).
The overall spend by Spain's international guests between January and March is also up on the same period last year - a full 7.7% higher. The fact that Holy Week celebrations fell entirely in March this year, has had a positive effect on the first quarter figures.
In March alone, overseas visitors spent 12.1% more than in the previous year, sealing the 70th consecutive month of rising tourist spend.
The Canary Islands remain the the favourite destination for foreign tourists to Spain, with this region attracting 28.3% of the total tourists in the first quarter of the year. (3.4 million visitors, 1.7% up on 2017).
Catalonia comes in second in popularity with 22.5% of the total and 3.1 million tourists between January and March (3.4% up on last year).
13.9% of Spain's overseas visitors (1.9 million people) chose Andalusia as their destination (4.4% more than in 2017); whereas Madrid was host to 11.5% of the total (1.6 million visitors, a 11.1% rise).
Visitors from the UK still make up the largest group (20.8%), with 2.9 million Brits coming to Spain in the first quarter of the year (0.4% more than in 2017); whereas visits from German tourists went up by 7.9% to almost 1.9 million (13.5% of the total); and the number of French visitors was up too (almost 1.7 million visitors, 12.3% of the total, a 0.7% rise).
Overall, British tourists in Spain spent more than any other group, accounting for 17.9% of the total spend, 0.8% up on last year.
Leisure and holidays were still the main reason for people visiting Spain, but visits for business or professional reasons increased by 16.1% compared with last year (1.3 million people in the first quarter).
Hotel occupancy went up by 6.2% between January and March, with 8.3 million tourists making hotels their accommodation choice, and property rentals went up by 9.5%.
