Spain expected to become the second most popular global destination surpassing the US

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Spain is expected to become the second most popular tourist destination in the world, even surpassing the US, with the so called ‘Trump Slump’ causing a dip in the US tourism industry.

 
With rapidly growing tourism, this year looks promising for the global tourism industry.

Although there were recent political uncertainties after the Catalan independence referendum and the terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils last August, the Spanish tourism industry has proved to be very strong, experiencing robust growth in the last 12 months.

 
Last year, international arrivals to Spain increased by 4.8%; from 75.6 million tourists in 2016 to 79.3 million in 2017. The UK, followed by France and Germany are the three largest source markets for Spain, making up 53% of total arrivals to the country.

 
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that the total tourist expenditure in Spain recorded an all-time high, reaching £77 billion in 2017.

 
As per current projections from the UNWTO, arrivals to the US were down from 75.9 million in 2016, to 72.9 in 2017.

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