In second place, 12.9 million tourists arrived from France last year, a growth of 10.3% over 2023. As for the annual expenditure of French tourists, this amounted to 11,014 million euros, up 13.1% on the previous year.
For its part, Germany grew by 8.6% compared to 2023, to 11.9 million international tourists, who spent more than 15.5 billion euros in the 12-month accumulated period, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%.
Tourists from Asia experienced the strongest growth, with a cumulative rate of change of +14.2% compared to the previous year. For its part, the United States strengthened its position as an important outbound market with 4.2 million tourists (up 11.2%).
Catalonia, at the head in arrivals and spending
With regard to the autonomous communities of destination preferred by international tourists, Catalonia is at the head with more than 19.9 million visitors, 9.7% more than in 2023. Next comes the Balearic Islands, with 15.3 million tourists and a 6.1% increase, followed by the Canary Islands (15.2 million and an increase of 9.1%), Andalusia (13.5 million, up 11.5%) and the Valencian Community, which is the region with the highest year-on-year growth in 2024, up 14% to over 11.9 million. Madrid received 8.8 million international tourists, 12.5% more than in the same period of the previous year. The other autonomous communities grew by a total of 10.6% over the previous year.
In terms of expenditure, the autonomous communities with the highest total expenditure in 2024 were Catalonia (with 23,745 million, 11.8% more than in 2023), the Canary Islands (with 22,887 million and an increase of 12.6%) and the Balearic Islands (with 20,052 million, 13.3% more than in 2023).
Increase in arrivals and spending also in December
In December alone, 5.3 million international tourists visited us this month, 1.1% more than in the same period last year. Moreover, in this month foreign visitors brought in 7,589 million euros, representing a 7% year-on-year growth.
In detail, and as has been the case throughout practically the whole of the recently ended 2024, December's tourism expenditure data have experienced improvements in the chapters of average expenditure per traveler and average daily expenditure, and remained practically unchanged in average stay. These are the main clues to ponder the effectiveness of the tourism policies carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.
In December, each visitor spent an average of 1,441 euros, 5.9% more than last year, and spending per day also reflects this growth, reaching 159 euros, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year. The average stay is 9.1 days, slightly down (-0.5%) from a year ago.
