In January, Spain received almost 2.5 million foreign tourists

Saturday, March 5, 2022

In Jan 2022, Spain received almost 2.5 million foreign tourists. This was a fivefold jump from the same month 2021. It was roughly 60% of the total that came before the pandemic hit in January 2020, official statistics showed on Thursday.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) data showed that by foreign tourists, the total expenditure increased to 3.03 billion euros ($3.36 billion) compared with 562 million euros a year ago and 4.78 billion euros in January 2020. In 2020, COVID-19 and the ensuing international travel restrictions brought the vital tourism sector of Spain to its knees but in 2021, the industry rebounded by 64% and in 2022, the government expects close to a full recovery.

“The January data confirms that the impact of the Omicron variant on tourism has been lower than expected”, Spanish Tourism Minister, Reyes Maroto, said in a statement.

She also mentioned that her ministry was constantly keeping an eye on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could impact tourist flows. “The Spanish government is already looking for alternatives to a possible absence of Russian tourists this high season,” she said.

More than 18,000 Russian tourists visited Spain in January this year, as per the INE.

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