Foreign tourism expenditure in Spain increases by 8.2%

The amount of money spent by foreign tourism in Spain from January to October 2013 rose by 8.2 percent compared with the same period in 2012, the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism reported on Wednesday. Spending rose to a total of 52.551 billion euros (71.291 billion U.S. dollars) in the country, which is the second most important tourists destination in terms of receipts. Visitors from Britain, Germany, France and the Nordic countries spent the largest amount of money in the country helping rise spending in the 10-month period. Visitors from Britain spent 10.922 billion euros from January to October, seven percent more than in the same period in 2012, which represented 20.8 percent of the total. They were followed by the Germans who spent 8.569 billion euros, a 6.2-percent increase in comparison with the same period of 2012. French visitors spent 5.315 billion euros, a 20.2-percent more than in the same period in 2012, while tourists from the Nordic countries spent 4.785 billion euros, a 19-percent increase in comparison with the same period in 2012. The average daily spending stood at 109 euros, which meant a 2.7-percent rise when compared with the same period in 2012. Meanwhile, the average spending per tourist increased by 3.2 percent to 970 euros. The region of Catalonia, in northeast Spain, was chosen as the main destination and international tourists spent there 12.673 billion euros, which represented 24.1 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the ministry reported that only in October international tourists spent 5.476 billion euros, a 9.3-percent increase when compared with the same month in 2012, with the average daily spending rising by 6.6 percent to 117 euros. The large amount of money spent by international tourists in Spain during the first 10 months of 2013 is the result of the large number of visitors the country received from January to October, a total of 54.3 million people. Spain, which receives the fourth largest amount of foreign tourists globally, is expected to receive a total of 60 million international visitors in 2013 after several months of breaking record high in the number of international tourists. (1 euro = 1.36 U.S. dollars)