Catalonia tops Spain in foreign tourist spending in 2019

Foreign visitors spent more money in Catalonia than anywhere else in Spain in 2019, a total of 21.3 billion euros, or 21.3% of the state total, says the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The revenue from international tourism in Catalonia was a 4.1.% increase over 2018, with spending in Spain as a whole rising 2.8%, to 92.2 billion euros.

Each tourist spent an average of 1,102 euros in Catalonia and Spain as a whole, a 3.3% and 1.7% increase over the previous year, respectively. 

As for the number of visitors, Catalonia also came top with 19.3 million, some 0.8% more and 23.1% of the total for Spain, which saw 83.7 million tourists in 2019, or 1.1% more.

Most visitors German and French

The majority of international visitors to Catalonia were from Germany, which made up 19.9% of the total, with another 18.8% coming from France.

French and Germans were among the tourists who spent most in Spain as a whole (11.7 and 7.5 billion euros, respectively), although the British came top, spending 17.9 billion.

Most tourists to Spain arrived by plane, almost 3.5 million in December (up 3.3%), while an extra 15% and 11% arrived by ship and road, respectively.

The majority of visitors in December came for leisure (3.5 million), a slight fall of 0.9%, while the percentage coming for professional reasons went up 18.7%, to more than 381,000.