SPAIN will almost certainly set a new annual record for foreign tourist arrivals in 2025 following the publication of November’s figures.
That month’s total reached 5.78 million- up by 2.1% year-on-year, according to the National Institute of Statistics on Friday.
Between January and November, 91.48 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain- a cumulative growth of 3.4%.
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Based on projections for December, last year’s record 94 million tally will be surpassed with an estimated 97 million arrivals.
The final total will be lower than the 100 million predicted at the start of 2025, due to a big fall over the last 12 months in French tourists.
For example, last November saw a 7.4% annual drop in visitors from Spain’s neighbour.
Once again, UK arrivals dominated the foreign market and despite price rises, tourist spending has reached record levels.
In November, foreign travellers shelled out 5% more than a year earlier, reaching nearly €8.1 billion.
The period between January and November saw a rise of 6.9%, hitting €126,707 billion
A Tourism Ministry statement said: “These data, as has been happening throughout the year, consolidate the trend of growth in destination spending above the increase in the pace of arrivals, somewhat more moderate in 2025 than the previous year.”
The ministry pointed out a 12.7% rise in spending by UK tourists, plus a 7.1% hike from long-haul American and Asian visitors.
In contrast, French spending in November fell by 0.2%, and was even less at 0.8% for German tourists.
The most popular regions for visitors in the first 11 months of 2025 were Andalucia- up 6.9% with 13.77 million tourists.
Second was the Valencian Community with an increase of 4.2% and a cumulative total of 11.71 million arrivals.
That was followed by Canary Islands- up by 3.4% to 14.24 million people.
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