Catalonia marks the August with more foreign tourists since the pandemic, but they spend less

BarcelonaCatalonia has recorded this year the month of August with the most foreign tourists since the pandemic, but spending per visitor fell, according to the surveys of tourist movements at borders and tourist spending published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Friday.

Specifically, 2.38 million foreign visitors arrived in Catalonia in August. The figure exceeds all those recorded in any month since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic starting in February 2020, although it is still slightly below the levels of the months of July and August of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 and almost the same as that of 2019. In fact, the high number of foreign visitors is consistent with other indicators of the tourism sector —which include both foreign and Spanish visitors—, such as data on hotel overnight stays, which in August also registered very high levels.

In total, these tourists spent about 3.331 billion euros in Catalan territory, 7.2% more than the same month last year. From the beginning of this year to the end of August, the total consumed by visitors from third countries was 18.850 billion, 11.1% more than in the first eight months of 2025.

However, despite the increase in the number of people, spending per visitor fell by 1.71% annually, to 1,400 euros per person. Despite this, what was spent per day by each foreign tourist did rise, increasing by 3.7% compared to August a year ago, to 238 euros. This indicates that, despite spending a little more money each day, the majority of foreigners visiting Catalonia choose to stay fewer days.

Between January and August, Catalonia was, once again, the autonomous community with the most tourist arrivals, 14.3 million, 3.9% more than in the first eight months of 2025. It was followed, also as is usual, by the Balearic Islands, with 11.7 million. Andalusia, with 11.1 million; the Valencian Community, with 9.4 million, and Madrid, with 6.6 million visitors from outside Spain were the other autonomous communities that accumulated the most.

Record in Spain

For its part, the whole of Spain did break a historical record and closed the month as the August with the most foreign visitors since records began. Thus, in the month of August alone, 12.3 million foreign visitors entered the State, which places the total between January 1st and August 31st at almost 70.4 million tourists.

With these figures, and pending the data for September (a month in which there is still a certain flow of visitor arrivals due to the good weather) and, above all, December due to the Christmas holidays, the Spanish tourism sector is on track to surpass the symbolic barrier of 100 million foreign tourists in a calendar year, after 97 million were surpassed in 2025, the highest ever recorded until then.

In fact, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, already said during the presentation of the state government's forecasts for the sector at the beginning of July, that it was "probable" that Spain would surpass the 100 million figure, a fact that, according to him, should be "celebrated". Pedro Sánchez's executive has as a priority to "incentivize" the arrival of more foreign visitors to the State, Hereu explained at the time, a policy that "is yielding results", as the data from before the summer already showed and now the August data indicate.

The promotion of tourism by the Spanish government clashes with that applied by other administrations also led by the socialists, such as the Barcelona City Council, where Mayor Jaume Collboni has explained on numerous occasions his intention to fight against tourism overcrowding in the Catalan capital, especially in the city center neighborhoods.

Per person, the expenditure of visitors from third countries was on average about 202 euros per day—1.9% more than in August 2025—, with a total per trip of 1,455 euros, almost the same as a year ago. Unlike Catalonia, therefore, in the state as a whole, tourists continued to increase their spending both daily and for the duration of their stay in the state.