Catalonia, top choice among foreign tourists

Catalonia is first choice for foreign visitors to Spain. In June alone, the country welcomed 2,029,711 foreign tourists, some 9.7% more than in the same month last year. The figures published by the Spanish Statistical Office (INE) on Monday places Catalonia top overall in the ranking of the most popular places in Spain among foreign visitors.

In the first six months of this year, a total of 8,644,565 million foreign visitors vacationed in Catalonia, some 10.3% more than in the same period last year, putting the country ahead of other popular tourist destinations, such as the Canary Islands (6.9 million) and the Balearic Islands (5.4 million). Most visitors to Catalonia come from France (17.4%) and the UK (14.1%).

However, taking June in isolation, Catalonia had to settle for second place in the ranking, just behind  popular summer destinations in the Balearic Islands, including Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The islands welcomed some 24.9% of all foreign tourists visiting Spain in the first month of summer, with Catalonia hosting 24.1% of all vacationers from abroad.