Almost 2 million international tourists visited Catalonia last August

Madrid (ACN).- Catalonia continues to be the preferred destination of international tourists within Spain, concentrating 24.2% of all visits in August, according to data released by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. 1.9 million foreign tourists visited Catalonia last August, which corresponds to a 2.9% increase compared to the same month last year. According to the Ministry, the increase has been in the number of tourists who arrived by plane and in particular from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Spain as a whole experienced a significant increase in the number of tourists. 7.64 million people decided to spend part of their holidays in Spain, which represents a 9.4% increase in relation to the same period last year. The figure sets a new historic record for Spain.

Catalonia leads the international tourist ranking among the Autonomous Communities, hosting 24.2% of the total or 1.9 million people. The Balearic Islands has come second with 1.8 million foreign visitors in August. This means an increase of 8.5% in relation to last year. Catalonia and the Balearic Islands concentrated almost half of all foreign visits, concretely 48.1% of them.

The Autonomous Community that experienced the greatest boom in the number of visitors was Madrid. A total of 550,000 people visited Madrid last August, which means an increase of 42.6%. The reason for the peak is to be found in the pilgrims who came for World Youth Day, which was held between August 16^th and 21^stand was chaired by Pope Benedict XVI.

New record

August 2011 has brought a new record to the Spanish economy regarding the arrival of international tourists. In total, 7.64 million people visited Spain last August, 9.4% more than in August 2010. The previous record corresponded to July 2011, when 7.63 foreigners came to spend part of their holidays in Spain.

2011 is an excellent year regarding the arrival of international tourists, for Catalonia and Spain as a whole. Between January and August, almost 40 million foreigners have visited Spain, which corresponds to a 7.8% increase.