BarcelonaThe tourism sector continues its momentum, setting a new record for international travel arrivals, consolidating Catalonia as one of the top destinations for the summer season, attracting visitors even in the months leading up to the season. The first half of this year closed with the arrival of 9.25 million foreign tourists, the first time this peak has been reached in the National Statistics Institute's (INE) historical series, with records dating back to the end of 2015. The positive figures for this first half of the year echo the performance of the previous year.
The same story is repeated across Spain as a whole. A total of 44.5 million tourists visited the country between January and June, a 4.7% increase compared to last year, when figures never before seen in the sector were also reached. Despite the upward trend, arrivals are growing less and less compared to the previous year, a possible sign that the peak has been reached. If last year in the first half of the year the arrival of international tourists increased by 13.3% in Spain, this 2025 it has been 4.7%, moderating increases that continue to set records, but are beginning to do so less abruptly, in line with experts' forecasts.
This moderation of the sector is even more evident in Catalonia, although it is barely noticeable in the central streets of tourist capitals like Barcelona, where the record-breaking crowds continue to generate the rejection of more and more residents. Catalonia is the main destination in all of Spain in the first months of the year, with nearly 21% of tourists, compared to the Canary Islands and Andalusia. During the first half of 2025, foreign travelers grew by 1.7% compared to the previous year, when year-on-year growth was 12.4%. The rest of the most touristic autonomous communities have registered higher growth rates during the first six months of 2025.
In this sense, while in Spain it is the best June on record, this is not the case in Catalonia, where pre-pandemic records have not yet been surpassed and, furthermore, growth is almost a year old with 1.99 million tourists. Furthermore, in May Catalonia registered a 5.6% drop in the arrival of travelers, the first decline since the pandemic, and the figure of two million foreign tourists, which had been achieved for the first time in 2024, could not be surpassed.
In terms of spending, Catalonia was one of the territories where the most was spent, concentrating around 18% of the total. In Spain as a whole, tourists spent almost €59.622 billion in the first half of the year, 7.5% more than a year ago, and close to €60 billion, another historic high that is also being confirmed, with single-digit monthly growth between January and June, except in April.
The United States is moderating
The political storm stirred by Donald Trump's return to the White House is beginning to be felt in the arrival of American tourists, one of the markets most anticipated by hoteliers due to their high spending. The economic uncertainty facing American households is causing them to cut back wherever they can, and vacations abroad are among those affected. In June, 4.2% fewer visitors arrived across Spain compared to the previous year, standing at 546,625, a decline that was already evident in May, when American travelers remained stable compared to 2024 and the upward trend seen in the other months of the year was broken.
Vueling will replace the European manufacturer Airbus with the American Boeing.
The model change will take between six and seven years.
The IAG holding company has allocated new aircraft for one of its airlines, the Catalan airline Vueling. The Viladecans-based company will receive 50 aircraft, with the first three scheduled to arrive by the end of 2026. With a current fleet of 131 aircraft, 60 of them at El Prat Airport, Vueling will gradually replace older models with the arrival of new ones. This growth will serve to "strengthen its leadership in Barcelona, the domestic market, and international corridors," the company notes.
A highly anticipated announcement that will also mark a change in model. Vueling will stop operating aircraft from the European operator Airbus and will switch to those manufactured by the American company Boeing. This transition will be gradual and is estimated to take between six and seven years to complete. Aircraft and their components will be among the few products to receive preferential treatment in the trade agreement recently concluded between the European Union and the United States, which is expected to establish zero-to-zero tariffs.
