Data provided by Spain’s official tourism website, Turespana, revealed that Spain registered more than 8.1 million international passengers in April 2023, thus marking an increase of 16.9 per cent compared to the same month in 2022.
Such data also show that during the first four months of this year, the country received a total of 25,262,701 international passengers, which is 34.9 per cent more than in the same period last year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In April, Spain saw an increase in the number of passengers from all major countries, with 57.6 per cent of which came from the EU member states, experiencing an increase of 15.2 per cent.
On the other hand, the flow from the rest of the world, which accounted for the remaining 42.4 per cent, increased by 19.2 per cent.
Based on these data, among the markets that recorded the highest growth in April are Portugal, Italy and the United States, with 31.9 per cent, 28.8 per cent and 22.9 per cent, respectively.
In terms of volume, Spain registered the highest number of arrivals from the United Kingdom in April 2023 (1,794,841) – an annual increase of 12.1 per cent.
According to Turespana data, the Canary Islands were the favourite destination of British passengers (25.7 per cent). At the same time, 83.6 per cent of these passengers travelled with a low-cost carrier (CBC), with the United Kingdom leading in arrivals on these companies, contributing 29.6 per cent of the total.
So far this year, the total number of travellers from this country has reached 5,271,803, which is 36.3 per cent more than in the first four months of the previous year.
Other data reveal that the second country of origin for international passengers remains Germany, with 14.5 per cent of the total, which increased by 4.8 per cent in April. Around 44.9 per cent of the total German passengers travelled with traditional companies, where Germany was the leading market for arrivals in these companies with 17.2 per cent of the total.
A smaller percentage of 9.4 per cent of French passengers also checked into Spain during April 2023, marking a year-on-year increase of 28.8 per cent, from which Catalonia (30.3 per cent of passengers) and Madrid (25.9 per cent) particularly benefited.
The third place was taken by Italy, where CBC passengers dominated with 83.3 per cent of the total compared to those travelling in traditional companies.
France also landed 8.6 per cent of all passengers in April of this year to Spain, marking an increase of 16.8 per cent, while passengers from the Netherlands experienced a 5.2 per cent increase in April, with the Community of Valencia, Catalonia and Andalusia as the main destinations.