British Holidaymakers Spent an Average of €48 Million per Day in Spain Last Year

British Holidaymakers Spent an Average of €48 Million per Day in Spain Last Year

Brits continue to flock to the Costa del sol 

Everyone knows that Brits love heading to Spain when they’re choosing a destination in the sun. It seems the Brits weren’t content with just being the main property investors and tourist group for Spain in 2017, as they were also – sort of – the biggest spenders.

As a collective British holidaymakers were spending an average of €48 million a day in Spain, which works out at around €2 million EACH HOUR. All in all, this figure accounts for 20.1% of all tourist spending in the country in 2017. Tourism spending reached a total of €86.82 billion in Spain, with Brits spending around €17.42 billion of that.

German tourists were barely spending more than Brits pre head, but their overall €12.2 billion spent in Spain puts them below the British. The reason for this was that there were more Brits than Germans in Spain 2017, with around 18.78 million Brits and 11.89 million Germans visiting.

French and Scandinavian tourists threw another €7 billion each into the Spanish economy last year, leading to tourism accounting for 11% of the GDP for the country; meaning tourism is one of the most important industries in Spain. 

The data comes to us from the Ministry of Tourism in Spain and shows just how important it is that Spain continues attracting city breakers, sun-seekers, hikers, golfers, and culture vultures to their shores.

Overall, a total of over 81 million people visited Spain during 2017, representing an annual increase of 8.6%.

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

It looks like the relationship between Brits and Spain can survive just about anything; from economic crashes and the f

Spain continues to be one of the most visited

country's in the world

allying pound, to the TV show Benidorm and the Brexit.

The strength of the bond was shown in 2016, as the official data from travel market analysts GfK proves that just under 18 million Brits headed to Spain for their holiday last year. Even though this figure is a record breaking number, it’s expected the record could be broken as early as this year. GfK are reporting that there are already 16% more Brits making early summer holiday bookings compared to last year.

There are a number of reasons behind the never-ending demand; Spain has much warmer and settled weather than the UK; it has cheaper leisure options including food and drink; accommodation is cheaper in Spain; and the Spanish property market is much better value for money than the British one.

There are also some more abstract reasons for this love affair. Success begets success, and it can feel like stepping foot on a Spanish runway for the first time ever is almost a traditional thing for Brits to do. While Brits “might” visit countries such as France, Italy, and the US, Spain is one of those countries that they “must” visit.

Spain has also built up a reputation as being a bit of a safe haven from the terrorism problems found in rival nations in the Mediterranean such as Tunisia, Turkey, and Egypt. This has made the country much more appealing for tourists around the world; particularly the Brits.

The VC of Tourism in the Canary Islands Cristóbal de la Rosa spoke about being pleased with the figures. It was expected that numbers could fall following the Brexit and the drop in value for the pound. However, figures have only risen. There have been some uncertainties, but all they did was strengthen the British need to visit Spain and enjoy a holiday in the country.