Spain, #2 most popular tourism spot globally
83 million tourists visited Spain last year. Therefore, Spain is the second most popular tourism destination globally. With this astonishing figure, Spain beats the United States. Only France is still ahead.
The World’s Most Visited Countries
The world’s most visited countries globally are:
- France – 87 million
- Spain – 82 million
- United States – 77 million
- China – 61 million
- Italy – 58 million
- Mexico – 39 million
- United Kingdom -38 million
- Turkey – 37 million
- Germany – 37 million
- Thailand – 36 million
Indeed, Spain hosted 82 million tourists in 2017, and 83 million in 2018. Overall, the number of international tourist arrivals globally reached 1.3 billion, according to the WorldBank.
Foreign tourists arrivals per country of origin
Foreign tourists come from over 50 countries, yet 6 countries represent more than 65%:
- United Kingdom 24%
- Germany 14%
- France 14%
- Italy 5%
- Netherlands 5%
- United States 3%
- Other European countries 27%
- Asia and Africa 5%
- Other American countries 4%
NB: definitive numbers are for 2017 (WorldBank) while 2018 is provisional (INE).
Tourism in Spain, a 90 billion euros market
Tourist spending in Spain reached a total expenditure of €89.9 billion, representing a 3.3% rise from the previous year. Consequently, we can conclude that the average spending per tourist was close to €1,000, as there were 83 million tourists.
Per country of origin, there were: 11.4 million German tourists in Spain, 11.3 million French tourists, while the number of British visitors declined by 1.6% to 18.5 million. Together, these 3 nationalities represent 40 million tourists out of the 83 million who visited Spain last year.
Correlation between tourism and real estate
Isn’t it interesting that the top 3 foreign buyers in Spain corresponds exactly to the top 3 countries bringing the highest number of tourists to Spain?
Indeed, the British, the Germans and the French top both rankings, showing that there is a strong correlation between tourism, and international real estate.
Naturally, some differences exist. For example British buyers represent 15.5 % of foreign buyers in the Spanish real estate market, while they represent 24% of the international tourists in Spain. Still, the correlation is striking. It proves empirically that your tourists are your potential buyers.
Therefore foreigners in Spain represent:
- 90 billion euros of revenues through tourism
- 11 billion euros of revenues through real estate acquisitions
So, as we enter the peak season for tourism, you know what to do: get the tourists to visit real estate properties over the summer!
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need help to speak with them, in their native language! That’s how you will increase chances of closing transactions with French, German, British or any other nationally of buyers.
Special thanks to Mercedes Blanco Gonzalez from FIABCISpain for her presentation at SIMAPRO in Madrid! It helped me realize this and write this article.