Mallorca, Ibiza, and Menorca Set for Record-Breaking UK Tourism Growth in 2026 as Jet2 Expands Flights to Spain’s Top Islands

Written By: Saurav Chakroborty

Saurav Chakroborty

Saurav Chakroborty is a passionte content writer and storyteller who specializes in the worlds of travel and technology. By combining clear writing with engaging storytelling, he helps people discover amazing destinations and make sense of modern tech tools. Whether it is explaining a new software product or highlighting unique travel experiences, he crafts content that connects with readers and helps companies reach their main business goals, expand their reach, and build strong relationships with their audience.

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January 31, 2026 03:51 GMT+5:30

Spain’s Tourism Continues Historic Surge Amid Strong UK Demand

Spain’s remarkable expansion continued in 2025 as an international visitor and spending reached new heights. Spain’s official data and tourism revenue eclipsed 135 billion and foreign tourists exceeded 97 million, all in 2025. This milestone marked an enormous addition to the euros Spain earned in tourism and the new economic activities that visitors drove. To meet the demand for Spanish holiday travel, UK-based carrier Jet2 has announced the largest increases in flights from the UK to Spain for the 2026 summer season. As stated by the Jet2 airline, from summer 2025 to 2026, the airline will increase its flight capacity by double digits to Spanish airports, especially for the Mallorca, Ibiza, and Menorca.

In this case, data from January 2025 suggests that British holidaymakers spent nearly double the amount than the comparable month last year, a historic high for British tourists to Spain. British tourists were the primary travelers in Spain as tourism management is still determining the figures.

Record Visitor Arrivals Strengthen Spain’s Tourism Position

The National Institute of Statistics of Spain, popularly known as INE, said that British tourists drove Spain’s international arrivals as they surpassed 91.4 million in the first 11 months of 2025, a 3% increment year-on-year. This was the 5th straight year that British tourists drove arrivals as British travelers exhibited strong preference for Spain and especially Catalonia, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands.

The record inflows have almost secured Spain’s position as the most visited country in Europe, as the country is on track to receive almost 100 million visitors in the calendar year 2023. As a major sector of the country’s economy, tourism is Spain’s economic backbone, providing millions of jobs in the hospitality and services sector.

Sharply Increased Holiday Spending by UK Residents As They Escape the January Blues

In the early days of January 2025, Spain experienced an almost instantaneous increase in the rate and volume of expenditure by UK tourists, in a trend similar to January 2024. The outspending reflects the underlying demand for Spain’s sun and culture, as it also confirms the pattern of tourism expenditure strongly reversing from recession as global travel resumes.

Historically, the largest cumulative tourism spend by country has been the UK, where tourists from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland contributed almost 18% of Spain’s late 2025 international tourism spend. It established the UK as the largest source of inbound tourism to Spain, surpassing all the other major European countries.

Jet2 Air Flies To And From The UK And Spain Summer 2026 Expansion

The airline plans to fly 890,000 passengers to Mallorca and will also increase the number of flights to Ibiza and Menorca. Ibiza will accommodate flights for 360,000 passengers and Menorca will offer the greatest increase of flights. This expansion of flights from Jet2 to the UK Spanish Mediterranean Islands will also add more flights offered by competitors.

These flight increases will support Spain’s new tourism policy of increased tourism and more diversified tourism in sustainable growth through the dispersal of seasonality and visitor congestion.

Balearic Islands bucks negative tourism trends and looks to further strengthen position from the UK

The Balearic Islands, in particular Mallorca, will continue to be the key growth drivers of inbound UK tourism. With airline seat capacity and flight frequency increases, tourism authorities predict strong demand for beach, culture, and gastronomy experiences in the summer months. This growth also supports the extension of Spain’s primary tourism strategy of extending the peak season and improving international traveller capacity and demand.
The extended peak tourism season inflow supports Spain’s primary tourism goal of increasing inflow to the destination region of choice and implementing secondary measures to reduce intra-region travel demand and disperse tourism in the destination to address negative visitor load factors.

Spain Holds the Tourism Spending Bag, the Impact of Increased UK Consumption and Visitor Stay Length

The record number of visitors and increase in spend continue to create new tourism revenue growth opportunities for Spain. The Balearics, Canary Islands, and Catalonia continue to attract increased foreign tourism spend and keep the international demand for tourism revenue driving a large portion of the total tourism revenue.

Spain Still Draws Holidaymakers in 2026

Spain should see growth in both visitor numbers and spending in 2026 based on tourism analysts and government officials. Recent demand for coastal and cultural destinations, as well as enhanced connectivity with the UK through airlines like Jet2, point to Spain staying among the top travel countries in Europe.

Spain had 97 million foreign visitors in 2025. Those numbers, combined with the demand for travel among UK visitors, point to an even higher number in 2026 as travelers search for sun-soaked destinations, bustling cities, and rich history and culture in regions like Mallorca, Barcelona, and Andalusia.