New data shows that more than 11 million international tourists visited Spain in July, a record for that month, but key markets such as British, German and French visitors are not as keen on a Spanish holiday as they have been traditionally.
The latest data on foreign travel arrivals released by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) shows that the country reached a new tourism record for July, with 11,023,252 visitors.
Despite record numbers though, there has been an obvious slowdown with visitor numbers barely increasing 1.6 percent compared to last year.
In the years following the Covid-19 pandemic, Spain had very strong tourism growth, which was one of the main driving forces behind economic recovery.
In July of last year, arrivals increased by 7.3 percent, while in the same month of 2023 they had increased by 11.3 percent.
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So far in 2025, Spain has welcomed 55.5 million foreign tourists, which is 2.2 million more than at this point last year – growth of just 4.1 percent.
The forecast for this year was 100 million tourists according to a statement by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the beginning of the year, but it looks unlikely now that Spain will reach it.
Most major tourist destinations in Spain have seen increases in arrivals. Foreign tourism grew by 6 percent in the Canary Islands, 5.5 percent in Andalusia, 1.4 percent in Valencia, and 1 percent in the Balearic Islands.
Despite this, there are a few regions which have seen declines in the number of tourists – most noteworthy are Madrid, where international tourism fell by 3.1 percent in July, and Catalonia, where it dropped by 1.2 percent.
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Visits by German tourists – one of the biggest markets for Spanish tourism, fell by 4.8 percent compared to July last year.
Arrivals from France also declined, falling by 3.1 percent, while those from the UK, barely grew by 0.7 percent.
Tourists increased though from several other countries including Portugal (9.5 percent), the Nordic countries (6.1 percent), the United States (5.1 percent), the Netherlands (4.9 percent), and Italy (2.7 percent).
Data for August is still unknown, but spending continues to increase rapidly. In July, foreign visitors in Spain spent a total of €16.45 billion, 6.1 percent more than the previous year.
This is around €1,491 per tourist or €210 per day for trips that averaged a week.
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In 2025, foreign tourism has already generated €76.07 billion in Spain, which is 7.2 percent more than the €70.969 billion recorded in 2023.
Tourism experts have surmised that the slowdown could be due to several factors, including increased prices for those holidaying in Spain, a response to the all the anti-tourism protests that have taken place across the country and the US tariff increases causing economic instability for many.
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