Spain’s tourism sector is booming, with nearly 10.3 million visitors arriving in the country in July this year, an 11.5% rise compared to 2022.

According to the latest report from the Spanish Institute of Tourism, Turespaña, compared to July 2019’s figures, the stats for July 2023 show a fall of just 1.62%, Schengen Visa Info reports. 

The findings show 56% of total passenger flow stems from European Union member states.  

Compared to last year, the markets reveal the biggest surge in visitors was headed up by Poland with a 34.7% rise, followed by Portugal with 23.3% growth and Italy with 18.8%. 

UK visitors made up 24.1% of Spain’s total arrivals, a year-on-year rise of 8.2%. This growth had a positive impact on all the country’s regions, particularly the Balearic and Canary Islands, with 28.7% and 20.1% of UK travellers, respectively.

“Passenger arrivals from Germany (14.2% of the total) increased by 6.6%, especially benefiting the Balearic Islands (48.4% of passengers),” the Turespaña report states.  

Furthermore, there was also a 3.9% rise in tourism-related social security affiliates in July compared to the same month last year, totalling 2,807,626. 

Spain’s Ministry of Tourism data also shows employment in the tourism sector makes up 13.6% of total branches in the economy. Yet compared to July 2019 – with 2,618,636 affiliates – this represents 7.2% growth. 

In addition, in June there was a considerable rise of 104,981 new employees who joined the workforce, compared to the same month last year. Whereas in Q2 this year, the tourism sector experienced a rise in employment to reach 2,864,776 workers. This is an increase of 5.4% compared to last year, and 6.3% growth from 2019.

Moreover, in the second quarter, tourism activities witnessed an increase of 146,678 employees compared to 2022, making up a quarter of all jobs within Spain’s economy, amounting to 589,000.