The Balearic Islands, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands were the most visited regions of Spain by international tourists in 2021, according to the latest official data for tourist figures just released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
In total, Spain received 31.1 million international tourists in 2021, which is 64.4% more than in 2020, a black year for the tourism sector due to the outbreak of Covid.
Despite this strong rebound, the number of tourists registered in 2021 is 62.7% lower than in 2019, before the pandemic, when there were 83.5 million travellers to the country.
The Balearic Islands were the top destination for foreigners in 2021, with over a fifth of the total number of tourists (20.3%) who visited Spain, followed by Catalonia with 18.5%, and then the Canary Islands with 16.9%.
According to the data, more than 6.3 million tourists holidayed in the Balearic archipelago, which is 267.4% more than in 2020, taking into account the harsh restrictions that were in place at that time due to the pandemic, with 2.3 million of them from Germany and a million from the UK.
In comparison, the number of tourists who visited Catalonia increased by 48.6% compared to the previous year, with 5.8 million visiting the region, which is home to Barcelona, of which 1.9 million came from France and 790,000 from the rest of Europe.
The third main destination by number of tourists was the Canary Islands, with nearly 5.3 million visitors, which is an increase of 38.9%. Of these, 1.2 million came from the UK and 1.2 million from Germany.
In fourth place is Andalusia (southern Spain), which received 4.2 million tourists, 57.2% more than in 2020, followed by Valencia with 4 million tourists, 58.1% more, and in fifth place is Madrid, which had 2.2 million visitors, an increase of 26.6% compared to the previous year.
MAIN REASONS FOR TRAVEL:
The main reason for tourists visiting Spain in 2021 was leisure and holidays, which accounted for 26.3 million tourists last year, with more than two million for business and professional reasons.
The majority of trips, according to the INE, were made by air, through which 24.4 million tourists arrived, which represents an increase of 78.9%, but nearly 6.4 million people arrived through land borders by road on the mainland.
