Tourists to Spain increases by 7.4% in May

The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain rose by 7.4 percent in May compared with a year earlier, official figures showed on Friday. According to data published by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, a total of 5.8 million tourists arrived in Spain in May, a record high for the month. Among the total, Catalonia in the north-east of Spain received 1.5 million visitors, followed by the Balearic Islands with 1.3 million. The increase of tourists was mainly due to arrivals from Germany and Britain. The number of British tourists increased by 9.3 percent in May to 1.5 million, while 999,711 tourists came from Germany, a 13.2-percent increase year on year. French tourists, for whom Spain is already a traditional destination, increased by 5.9 percent to 809,838, while tourists from the Nordic countries grew by 20.2 percent to 400,000. However, the number of Italian citizens who chose Spain for their holidays continued falling, probably because of the economic problems in their country. A total of 249,279 visitors from Italy arrived in May, down by 16.4 percent compared with the same month of 2012. Spain received a total of 19.8 million of tourists from January to May, up by 3.9 percent compared with a year earlier, the highest increase in this period since 2008.