Tourists spend almost 2.5 billion euros in the first quarter, 6.7% more than in 2015

Madrid (CNA).- Tourists spent 2.467 billion euros in Catalonia in the first quarter of 2016. This sum is equal to 6.7% more than the same period last year, according to the Tourist Expenditure Survey (Egatur) published by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). In March alone, the amount that foreigners spent in Catalonia was 922 million euros, a decrease of 5.6% compared with March of last year. On a country-wide scale, foreigners spent 12.255 billion euros in all of Spain in the first quarter of 2016, 7.4% more than last year. These figures indicate that Catalonia absorbed 20.1% of foreigners’ expenditure in Spain in the first three months of the year.

In March, during the average five-day trip in which foreign tourists visited Catalonia, the average expenditure per tourist was 848 euros, 5.9% less than in March 2015. However, during their stay in Catalonia, daily spending per tourist was 168 euros, an increase of 5%, indicates data from the INE.

In the first three months of the year, Catalonia was the second autonomous community of Spain in terms of tourist spending, accounting for 20.1% of money spent in the quarter, after the Canary Islands, which absorbed 32.3% of total expenditure.