Only 20% of tourists who came to Spain in January booked a package holiday

In January, a total of 4.8 million international tourists visited Spain, of which only 21% did so by booking a package holiday. According to data collected by the INE (National Statistics Institute), total spending in the destination amounted to 6.5 billion euros, a 25% increase compared to the first month of 2023.

This means that 3.8 million tourists (79%) arrived in Spain in January without a holiday package, a 15.3% increase, while one million did so through a combined trip, which is a 15.4% increase compared to the beginning of last year.

As usual, the Canary Islands were the only region of Spain where package holidays surpassed individual travel (57% versus 43%) as the preferred way of booking for tourists. The archipelago is a destination with a long tradition of tour operator holidays, especially in winter, when it the high season.

In terms of expenditure, 1.3 billion euros was spent in Spain by foreigners who came on a package holiday (+25%) while those who travelled without this option spent a total of 5.2 billion euros, a 25.7% increase.

In the whole of 2023, of the 85 million international tourists who arrived in Spain, 64 million (75%) did not book a package holiday. In contrast, 21 million visitors purchased this type of holiday, which is 20% higher than in 2022.