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Tourists in Spain smash spending records

Steve Tallantyre
Steve Tallantyre - [email protected]
Tourists in Spain smash spending records
British tourists emptied their wallets of €8.3 billion in the first 8 months of 2013 to become Spain's biggest spenders. Photo: Flickr/chalo84

The total amount spent by international tourists in Spain in the first eight months of the year reached €40.47 billion ($54.81 billion), an increase of 7.2 percent over the same period in 2012.

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The figures were presented on Friday by Egatur, based on a tourist expenditure survey commissioned by Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism.

The average amount spent each day per tourist in the year up to and including August rose by 2.2 percent, to €107, while the average total expenditure increased by 2.5 percent to €958, according to Spanish daily Te Interesa.

Most of the spending was by British tourists, whose €8.257 billion represented 20.4% of the total and an increase of 6.1 percent on the same period last year.

The British were followed in the splashing-out tables by German tourists with a total spend of €6.294 billion (up 4.4%), the French with €4.277 billion (up 19.3 percent), and the Nordic countries with €3.877 billion (up 20.4 percent).

Catalonia was the biggest beneficiary of the spending, with €9.754 billion (24.1% of the total), an increase of 11.4 percent over the same period in 2012.

It was followed by the Balearic Islands with €7.943 billion, a 9 percent increase.

In August alone, total expenditure amounted to €8.263 million, 12.2 percent more than the same month last year.

Like the accumulated spending data and the average spending per person, this represented a record high.

In August, the average spending per tourist stood at €997, up 4.7 percent, while the average daily expenditure went up 2.8 percent to €101.

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