Tourism in Spain

Tourism in Spain is a major component of the national economy. In 2024, domestic and international tourism combined accounted for 12.6% of Spain’s GDP (200,699 million euros). The characteristic tourism branches generated more than 2.7 million jobs, representing 12.3% of total employment. The international tourist expenditure in 2024 was around 126 billion euros. Since 1959, the tourism industry has become one of the key sectors of the Spanish economy. The country has been a popular destination for summer holidays, especially with large numbers of tourists from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux, and the United States, among others. Accordingly, Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second-biggest in the world.

In 2025, Spain was the second most visited country in the world, recording around 97 million international tourists, which marked the eighth consecutive year of record-breaking numbers.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, only 18.9 million tourists visited Spain. These dramatic figures were devastating for the tourism sector and were a reflection of what would become the worst year for this industry, in terms of income, ever recorded. However, by 2022 the industry had mostly recovered, with 71,659,281 international tourists and increasing.

Spain ranks first among 140 countries in the biannual Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum in 2019, matching the top position already achieved in 2017 and 2015. The World Tourism Organization has its headquarters in Madrid.

Statistics Arrivals

+Yearly tourist arrivals in millions

Most visitors arriving to Spain on a short-term basis were from the following countries:Número de turistas según país de residencia Rank Country 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016119,084,42318,403,21617,262,28715,121,9104,302,634 3,150,204 18,012,484 18,502,722 18,806,776 17,675,367 212,767,49112,980,34111,768,26410,096,0405,822,671 3,887,750 11,147,397 11,343,649 11,267,269 11,258,540 312,050,83311,937,23610,989,6599,768,6005,208,894 2,391,437 11,158,022 11,414,481 11,897,376 11,414,481 45,704,9895,437,8404,849,7484,011,1391,703,423 947,406 4,534,515 4,382,503 4,222,865 3,969,322 55,007,6414,780,8634,320,6303,923,0892,048,853 918,361 3,684,260 3,848,545 3,704,549 3,355,031 64,456,6654,263,8423,835,8842,801,476797,844 405,810 3,324,870 2,949,710 2,637,484 2,001,813 73,383,4822,986,6012,802,7742,415,9361,193,649 762,384 2,428,790 2,346,405 2,137,880 1,996,164 83,082,3383,063,4312,758,6842,513,3891,464,091 743,411 2,525,887 2,500,278 2,474,720 2,301,628 93,051,0082,773,2642,476,1052,089,464631,314 329,043 2,177,592 2,049,272 2,046,123 1,808,469 102,253,7502,117,2582,002,1971,654,733945,710 397,074 1,811,865 1,884,783 2,059,201 1,703,481 111,022,1241,080,318984,259725,093249,732 129,785 597,777 499,803 450,822 370,044 12817,880668,874572,276495,35164,287 162,311 721,697 714,774 746,498 562,680 13790,954647,801388,51556,64629,131 134,612 700,748 649,032 514,777 374,755 14703,415598,456565,823347,798139,937 167,215 564,854 558,674 467,508 372,759 15645,649604,676340,906280,151139,427 139,427 269,557 292,949 290,280 297,625 16628,214643,689653,628380,100139,449 115,130 450,663 446,719 488,217 390,765 17445,470410,292310,532310,53229,368 112,916 677,659 550,681 444,518 463,420 18430,101388,399434,583180,29037,692 121,931 630,797 490,631 446,069 312,432 19311,726348,746300,372185,21659,313 63,011 213,656 213,656 140,336 91,177 20276,932296,601396,941302,52079,908 54,500 341,773 317,696 269,264 312,573 North Europe5,123,9545,147,4304,795,6754,291,2251,839,655 1,175,330 5,530,112 5,783,558 5,826,548 5,129,025 Other Europe9,711,7849,112,6897,895,2196,545,7742,991,449 1,692,075 6,441,423 5,980,237 5,543,011 5,026,962 Total international visitors96,803,894 93,799,50585,169,05071,659,28131,180,802 18,933,103 83,509,153 82,773,156 81,868,522 75,315,008

Autonomous Community by nights spent in hotel # Autonomous Community Non-residents Residents Total1Canary Islands 84,000,000 10,000,000 94,000,0002Catalonia 62,000,000 22,000,000 84,000,0003Andalusia 32,000,000 34,000,000 66,000,0004Balearic Islands 54,000,000 9,000,000 63,000,0005Valencian Community 29,000,000 27,000,000 56,000,0006Community of Madrid 26,000,000 16,000,000 42,000,0007Galicia 6,000,000 15,000,000 21,000,0008Castile and León 5,000,000 14,000,000 19,000,0009Basque Country 10,000,000 8,000,000 18,000,00010Aragon 4,000,000 10,000,000 14,000,00011Asturias 3,000,000 9,000,000 12,000,00012Region of Murcia 5,000,000 7,000,000 12,000,00013Cantabria 2,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,00014Navarre 3,000,000 5,000,000 8,000,00015Extremadura 2,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,00016Castile-La Mancha 2,000,000 5,000,000 7,000,00017La Rioja 2,000,000 3,000,000 5,000,00018Ceuta 40,000 100,000 140,00019Melilla 20,700 108,000 128,700-Total 331,000,000 208,000,000 539,000,000

Most visited cities In 2024, the most visited cities were: # City Autonomous Community Arrivals1Madrid Community of Madrid 2Barcelona Catalonia 3Seville Andalusia 4Palma de Mallorca Balearic Islands 5Benidorm Valencian Community 6Valencia Valencian Community 7Granada Andalusia 8Málaga Andalusia 9San Bartolomé de Tirajana Canary Islands 10Calvià Balearic Islands 11Adeje Canary Islands 12Salou Catalonia 13Zaragoza Aragon 14Bilbao Basque Country 15Lloret de Mar Catalonia 16Torremolinos Andalusia 17San Sebastián Basque Country 18Córdoba Andalusia 19Pájara Canary Islands 20Arona Canary Islands 21Santiago de Compostela Galicia 22Alicante Valencian Community 23Puerto de la Cruz Canary Islands 24Salamanca Castile and León 25Yaiza Canary Islands 26Benalmádena Andalusia 27Marbella Andalusia 28Mogán Canary Islands 29Toledo Castile-La Mancha 30Alcúdia Balearic Islands 31Sant Llorenç des Cardassar Balearic Islands 32Roquetas de Mar Andalusia 33Murcia Region of Murcia 34Fuengirola Andalusia 35Sant Josep de sa Talaia Balearic Islands 36A Coruña Galicia 37Burgos Castile and León 38Vigo Galicia 39Santander Cantabria 40Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Canary Islands 41Oviedo Asturias 42Tías Canary Islands 43L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Catalonia 44Ibiza Balearic Islands 45Muro Balearic Islands 46La Oliva Canary Islands 47Capdepera Balearic Islands 48Chiclana de la Frontera Andalusia 49Gijón Asturias 50León Castile and León

Transport

Spain's national airline is Iberia, but the country can be flown into on many international passenger airlines and charter airlines.

Tourists also arrive in Spain by road, rail and over the water. Spanish freeways interconnecting the touristic cities are also linked with the French freeway network across the Pyrenees. The main train operator is Renfe, including AVE (Spanish high speed train) or Talgo intercity services. Spain's high-speed rail link is the largest in Europe and second largest in the world after China. There is also a number of high-end tourism oriented hotel-train services, such as Transcantábrico.

Summer resorts and beaches

This type of tourism was the first to be developed in Spain, and today, generates the most income for the Spanish economy. The mild climate during the whole year and the extensive sandy beaches of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean as well as of its two archipelagoes (the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands respectively) have been attracting tourists from Northern Europe for decades. The leading source markets of Spanish beach tourism are the UK (around 24% of the total arrivals in Spain in recent years), Germany and France (around 15-16% each), followed by Scandinavia and Italy (around 7% each) and the Netherlands (around 5%).SPANISH TOURIST OFFICE NEWS UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2012

The most popular Spanish mainland coasts are on its Mediterranean side, and include, from north to south clockwise:

The Costa Brava, the Costa Daurada and the Costa del Maresme, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, very popular with visitors from France as well as inland Spain, with notable resorts like Salou and the city of Barcelona. The Costa Blanca, (one of the most developed coastal areas of Spain, extremely popular for tourists from the United Kingdom and Germany, with Benidorm as the leading summer city of Spain) and the Costa del Azahar are both in the Valencian Community. The Costa Cálida in the Region of Murcia and the Mar Menor, a lagoon by the Mediterranean sea. The Costa de Almería, the Costa Tropical, the Costa del Sol and the Costa de la Luz, all in the community of Andalusia. Some of the summer destinations here are renowned worldwide, such as Marbella in Málaga Province or Sotogrande in Cádiz province, both destinations for tourists and summer residents with big purchasing power. The city of Málaga is a notable Costa del Sol destination and also one of the largest harbours in Spain and frequented by cruise ships.

Spain's two archipelagoes, the Balearic Islands off the mainland coast in the Mediterranean and the volcanic Canary Islands in the Atlantic, are also both very popular destinations with Spaniards and Europeans. Regions 2016 (Jan to Aug) millions of visitors Catalonia inc. Costa Brava, Costa Daurada 12.58 Balearic Islands inc. Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza 9.65 Canary Islands inc. Tenerife, Lanzarote 8.62 Andalusia inc. Costa Almeria, Costa del Sol, Marbella, Málaga 7.39 Valencia inc. Costa Blanca 5.56 In addition to the summer tourism, other modalities like cultural and monumental tourism congresses, sport or fun tourism have been developed in these areas, including such famous cities as Barcelona and Valencia, the biggest harbours of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

Many coastal or island places also have great ecological and natural importance. Theme Parks like Terra Mítica, Tibidabo Amusement Park, Tivoli World and the resort PortAventura World or diverse water-fun parks are also popular.

In 2014 Spain broke its own record of blue flag beaches, achieving 681 flags and becoming the leader in the Northern Hemisphere. Spain is also the leader in blue flags for marinas.

Cultural tourism, business tourism

As a crossroads of several civilisations, Spain offers a number of historical cities and towns. Major destinations include Spain's two largest cities: Madrid and Barcelona, which stand as two of the leading city destinations in Europe. Both offer a matchless number of attractions and their importance in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, sports and arts contribute to their status as two of the world's major global cities. Fifteen Spanish cities have been declared World Heritage Cities by the UNESCO: Alcalá de Henares, Ávila, Baeza, Cáceres, Córdoba, Cuenca, Ibiza, Mérida, Salamanca, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santiago de Compostela, Segovia, Tarragona, Toledo and Úbeda . As of October 2016, Spain has 45 total sites inscribed on the list, third only to Italy (51) and China (50).¿Cuáles son los bienes españoles Patrimonio de la Humanidad?, Europa Press Of these 45 sites, 40 are cultural, 3 are natural, and 2 are mixed (meeting both cultural and natural criteria), as determined by the organization's selection criteria. Other first-class destinations are Seville, Granada, Santander, Oviedo, Gijón, Bilbao and San Sebastián. All of them with historical landmarks and a lively cultural agenda.

Student programs

Besides hosting some of the most renowned business schools in the world such as IE Business School, ESADE or IESE Business School, Spain is a popular destination for students from abroad. In particular, during the 2010–11 academic year Spain was the European country receiving the most Erasmus Programme students.Why Spain is Top for Erasmus students|In English|EL PAÍS

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