International tourists in Catalonia spend €2.4bn in June

Figure marks increase of 13.6% compared to same period last year

Tourists in coastal town of Roses in July (ACN)
Tourists in coastal town of Roses in July (ACN) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

August 1, 2018 01:57 PM

International tourists in Catalonia spent a total of 2.4 billion euros in June, 13.6% more than the same month last year. This, according to data from the Tourism Expenditure Survey, published by the Spanish Statistics Institute.

In relation to these figures, each tourist spent an average of 1,148 euros over the course of 5.8 days, which was the median length of each visit.

Tourists spent an average of 198 euros on a daily basis, marking an increase of 4.6% compared to last year.

International visitor spending in Catalonia was highest compared to Spain as a whole, making up 25.6% of the total.

Number of tourists in June increases

A total of 2,090,369 tourists visited Catalonia in June, an increase of 3.2% compared to the same month in 2017. This marks an improvement from May, when the number of tourists decreased compared to last year, but spending actually rose. 

Spending trend continues

The increase in spending in June shows a continuing trend in figures seen  in May, when the actual number of tourists dropped, but they spent more money than the previous year.

According to Frontur, which publishes tourist figures from the state statistics office, there was a slight 2.4% dip in the number of foreign tourists to the country compared with last May, to 1,874,676 people. However, they spent a total of 1.91 billion euros in Catalonia, some 5.2% more than twelve months before.

Cumulatively for the first five months of this year, a total of 6,529,377 foreign visitors came to Catalonia, a 2.1% drop compared with the same period in 2017, say the figures. Yet the trend of this month is the same for the whole 2018: despite being less, visitors have spent 6.53 billion euros, which means 6.7% more money than the same period in 2017.