04 July 2008
The almost six million English tourists visiting Spain (1.2 million to the Costa Blanca) in the first five months of the year have made British tourism the driving force behind the tourism economy, representing 60% of low season foreign tourism, according to a report published yesterday by the Ministry of the Economy.
A total of 20.9 million foreign tourists visited Spain from January to May of this year, up 3.5% on the same period of 2007. Second in number to British tourists were visitors from Germany (3.7 million), up 3.3% on the previous year.
The majority of foreign tourists in the first five months of the year arrived by plane (16.3 million visitors, 78.4% of the total), for a 5.1% increase on 2007. A total of 4.03 million tourists arrived by land, down 2.9% on the same period of the previous year.
From January to May, 69% of tourists (14.4 million) had not purchased a vacation travel package prior to arriving in Spain, representing a 7.3% increase. The number of tourists contracting a travel package prior to arrival (6.2 million) was down 4.6% on the same period of 2007. Tourists staying in their secondary residences, family/friend homes and rented residences increased 2.5%.
INFORMACIÓN
