Over 3.5m travel to Catalonia from international airports in first quarter, 6.1% less than in 2019

A total of 3,573,452 people traveling from foreign airports arrived in Catalonia over the first quarter of 2023 according to Turespaña, the Spanish government's official tourism marketing agency.

This figure is still 6.1% below the 3,804,616 seen in 2019, the last year before the pandemic hit, but the highest in three years - 63.8% more than the same period in 2022 - as Catalonia continues to recover its passenger figures after years of restrictions and limited traveling. 

In March alone, there were 1,353,795 people who traveled to Catalonia from foreign airports, 42.6% more than the same month a year prior. 

At 43%, the Barcelona airport experienced the greatest year-on-year growth than any other airport in Spain over the first quarter of 2023.

The more than 3.5 million that arrived in the first quarter, however, is not equivalent to the number of tourists that visited Catalonia from other countries as it includes residents who were returning home from international airports. 

Spain closes pandemic gap

Across Spain there were 17,124,291 people who arrived from international airports, 45.6% more than the same period last year and a mere 0.5% below pre-pandemic figures. 

6.5 million passengers arrived from abroad in March alone, 30% more than a year ago, the second-highest number of travelers for a month of March since 2000.

Madrid welcomed the highest share of travelers, 27.2% of the total, followed by Catalonia with 20.8%. 

Over half of all of these passengers, 55.6%, arrived from other EU countries, with the highest year-on-year growth seen in those traveling from Portugal (+63.2%), the United States (42.9%), and Ireland (+38.9%).