Tourist Toppers

Spain has smashed the record for visits from foreign tourists last year, with a total of 71 and a half million visitors, and that’s before figures for December are factored in early next month! In November alone, four point one million foreign visitors arrived in Spain, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Up to the end of November, British tourists led the numbers with nearly 17 million visitors, representing 23.7 percent of the total and a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent. French visitors were the second-largest national group, with 10.8 million travelling to Spain – up by seven percent on the same period in 2015 – followed by Germans, who totalled 10.7 million, up by just over six percent.
Catalunya continues to be the number one destination in Spain, accounting for 23.8 percent of the total number of foreign visitors standing at 17 million, rising by just under four per cent in a year, whilst the Valencia region, including the Costa Blanca, saw a bumper 17 percent hike, with seven point four million tourists.
In keeping with the increased foreign visitors, spending by them in the Valencia region and Costa Blanca leapt up by 30 percent in November compared to the same month in 2015, whilst the overall Spanish figure went up by eight percent, with British spending nationally accounting for over 18 percent of the total.