European travelers in Spain 2023, by origin

In 2023, the European country with the highest number of residents visiting Spain was the United Kingdom. In total, over 17 million British residents traveled to Spanish territory and stayed at least one night. Comparatively, around 11.7 million tourists from France also made their way to Spain in that year.

UK visitors: key drivers of Spain’s international tourism

With over 18 million British tourists visiting Spain annually in the years before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the United Kingdom became the top contributor to international tourism in the Iberian country. On average, each UK resident who traveled to a Spanish destination in 2020 stayed more than eight days in total, reversing the overall decline recorded since 2008. In contrast, the average daily expenditure by UK tourists was constantly growing before the pandemic, reaching 132 euros in 2019.

French and German tourists are also fond of Spain

The easy travel connections, the weather, the food, and the hospitality of the Spanish people also attracted more than 20 million tourists from France and Germany each year during the second half of the 2010s. On average, German tourists in Spain spent significantly more money during their trips than their French counterparts. In the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the average expenditure of German residents in Spain increased while the French visitors’ spending declined.