Catalonia reaches a new tourism record with 7.1 million foreign visitors in the first half of the year

Madrid (ACN).- Catalonia received 1,677,679 foreign tourists in June, an increase of 2.4% compared with the same month in 2013, according to a a survey published on Tuesday by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. The combined number of foreigners who visited the Autonomous Community in the first half of this year reached 7.129 million, which is an increase of 6.7% and sets a historic new record for the number of foreign visitors passing through Catalonia. This good performance has been shared throughout Spain, as it hosted 28 million foreign tourists in the first half of 2014, marking a new record. The study has been carried out by Frontur, the agency conducting surveys on tourist movements in and out of Spain.

The foreign market which has been most active in its number of tourists visiting Catalonia has been the United Kingdom, followed by France. Just over 7.1 million foreign visitors passed through the Autonomous Community in the first half of this year. This secured Catalonia as the principal destination for tourism in Spain, accounting for 25.4% of the total foreign visitors to the country, or 1 in every 4 tourists.

June has the busiest month for foreign visitors coming to Catalonia, and since June 2010 the number of foreign visitors arriving in in this month has risen each year. 2014 has been no exception, and this June saw 1.678 million tourists visiting Catalonia from abroad, a 2.4% increase from last year.