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Spain is one of the world’s most popular destinations, where
tourism accounts for 12.6% of gross domestic product. It ranks
third on the U.N. World Tourism Barometer's list of the world’s
top tourism earners, after the United Kingdom and France.
The income from foreign visitors rose 6.8% to 134.7 billion
euros ($158.9 billion) last year, compared with 126 billion
euros in 2024, the Ministry of Tourism said.
The increase in the number of tourists and their spending meet
the objective of transforming “the tourism model into one that
is more sustainable and based on prioritizing quality over
quantity,” the ministry said in a statement.
Catalonia, the northeastern region where Barcelona is located,
attracted around 20.1 million tourists, 0.6% more than in 2024.
It was followed by the Mediterranean islands and the Canary
Islands, a flagship of the sun and beach tourism for which Spain
is known.
Most travelers came from the U.K. (19 million), France (12.7
million) and Germany (12 million).
It was Spain’s third record-breaking year since 2019, the year
before the COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed international
leisure travel.
As tourism rebounded globally, it put pressure on accommodation
in Spain, particularly in city centers where short-term rentals
have proliferated, causing friction at times with locals, many
of whom feel priced out of the housing and rental market due to
mass tourism.
Last year set a new record for international tourist arrivals in
the post-pandemic era: an estimated 1.52 billion international
tourists were recorded worldwide, an increase of almost 60
million than in 2024, according to the U.N. barometer.
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