The arrival of foreign tourists bats new record in May but is stabilized with 1.5% more visitors and almost 5% more expense
The growth of the number of foreign tourists was moderated in May with The arrival of 1.5% more international visitors than in 2024. Despite a smaller increase than the one registered in the previous months, this rise was enough to write down a new record in the historical series. This follows from the data published on Wednesday by the INE, which indicate that Spain received in May 9.4 million foreign travelers who left a total disbursement of 12,254 million euroswhich reaffirms the growth of tourist spending at a greater pace than arrivals.
In the fifth month of 2025, almost 140,000 foreign tourists traveled to the country more than in the same month last year, in which a little less than 9.3 million international visitors arrived. Thus continues the uninterrupted increase of foreign travelers that Spain has been experiencing from postpania recovery. With respect to before the COVID-19 irruption, the number of foreign travelers has shot 18.6%, if the months of May 2025 and 2019 are compared. In the first five months of this year, more than 35 million tourists have visited the country Foreign, 5.6% more than last year for the same dates.
Despite maintaining the bullish path, the increase in the number of foreign tourists It was moderated in May with respect to the 10.1% increase scored in April —Amented by the mismatch in the calendar of Holy Week, which the previous year had fallen in March – or those of 7.7% and 6.1% recorded at the beginning of the year in February and January respectively. From the tourism sector they see positively this evolution and frame these lower growth in a stabilization context. “After the pandemic, we took a lot of force to take cruise speed and now for several four -month periods we are planning. The percentage increases are not so large, but we continue to altitude little by little “, The President of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Helms (CEHAT), Jorge Marichal, said on Tuesday when assessing the situation of the sector.
May’s increase in the number of foreign tourists was accompanied by A somewhat more pronounced increase in spending, which grew 4.9% with respect to 2024 until reaching the total disbursement of 12,254 million euros. It is a record figure that reflects both the highest influx of visitors and the highest cost per head. On average each tourist left 1,304 euros during his visit, 3.3% more than last year. So far this year, the accumulated total expenditure is 46,586 million euros until May, 8.1% more than in the first five months of 2024.
After the evolution of international tourism between January and May has confirmed its strength, the tourism sector is confident that the upward trend will remain in the summer months. According to the calculations of the State Society for Innovation Management and Tourism Technologies (Segitur), under the Ministry of Tourism, The arrival of 11.17 million foreign tourists in July and another 11.2 million in August is expected3% and 2.4% more than last year. If these expectations were achieved, it would be a record summer for the summer season, for which an expenditure growth of 4.2% is also predicted to 32,208 million euros in the two months.
These unprecedented figures in the historical series have awakened in recent times the debate about the saturation of tourist destinations and the social sustainability of an activity that involves an important economic engine for the country. “The challenge this season is to sustainably manage a high occupation contextthat is positive for visitors and residents. Success does not only reside in reaching record figures, but in properly distributing these flows to avoid the saturation of the busiest destinations, extending the rooms, promoting emerging destinations and combating seasonality, “said the president of Cehat on Tuesday.
