Catalonia marks the August with more foreign tourists since the pandemic, but they spend less
The whole of Spain received 12.3 million visitors two months ago, the historical record
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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 border tourist movement and tourist spending surveys 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 equal to 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 recorded 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 until the end of August, the total consumed by visitors from third countries was 18.85 billion, 11.1% more than in the first eight months of 2024.
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, the amount 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 who visit Catalonia choose to stay for fewer days.
Record in Spain
For its part, Spain as a whole 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 country, which places the total between January 1st and August 31st at almost 70.4 million tourists.
Per person, the spending of visitors from third countries averaged about 202 euros per day—1.9% more than in August 2024—, with a total per trip of 1,455 euros, almost the same as a year ago.
