Carried by a record foreign attendance at the start of the year, Spain consolidates its place as a global tourism giant. The country attracted more than 17 million international visitors in the first quarter of 2025, while recording a notable increase in tourism expenses.
Spain welcomed 17.1 million international visitors in the first quarter, 5.7% more than in the first three months of 2024, according to data published Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This figure constitutes a new record for Spain, the second world tourist destination behind France with nearly 93.8 million foreign visitors welcomed in 2024, the Ministry of Tourism said.
This record was accompanied by a sharp increase in tourism expenses, which reached 23.5 billion euros in the first quarter, 7.2% more than over the same period of 2024. A point highlighted by the ministry, which has defended for years a highway from the Spanish tourism sector.
According to the INE, the main countries of origin of tourists welcomed during the first three months of 2025 were the United Kingdom (3.1 million, +4.6%), France (2.1 million, +7.1%) and Germany (also 2.1 million, but with a decline of 0.1%).
-The British also ranked on the first step of the podium in terms of tourism expenditure (15.9%of the total), ahead of Germany (12.3%) and the Nordic countries (8.8%). In March alone, the average daily expenditure per tourist was 188 euros.
This new leap in attendance occurs while the movements hostile to surcourism have multiplied for several months in Spain, where the inhabitants complain in particular of a congestructure of infrastructure and an outbreak of rents.
Faced with this situation, it is necessary to continue to “diversify” destinations and to “disappeared” attendance, in order to “redistribute the profits throughout the territory”, underlined the Minister of Tourism, Jordi Hereu.
Sami Nemli with agencies / eco inspirations
