Spain ended 2025 with a new milestone in international tourism. Never before had foreign visitors spent so much money in the country — and never before had Spain welcomed so many international tourists.
Spa.in Press
Over the full year, international visitors spent €126.7 billion in Spain, representing a 6.9% increase compared with 2024. This figure already surpassed the total tourism revenue of the previous year before December data were fully incorporated, confirming 2025 as a record-breaking year for tourism income.
Visitor numbers also reached a historic high. Around 91.5 million international tourists travelled to Spain during 2025, an increase of 3.4% year on year. While the symbolic threshold of 100 million visitors was not reached, the figure represents the highest annual total on record.
A clear pattern: spending grew faster than arrivals
The key takeaway from the 2025 tourism data lies in the comparison between visitor growth and spending growth:
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Tourist arrivals: +3.4%
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Tourism spending: +6.9%
In other words, Spain welcomed more tourists than ever, but the sector expanded primarily because each visitor spent more money.
November 2025 highlights the structural shift
This trend was particularly visible in November 2025. During that month, Spain received 5.8 million international tourists, a moderate increase of 2.1% compared with November 2024. However, total spending rose much more strongly, reaching €8.09 billion, up 5% year on year.
Average spending per tourist stood at €1,399, an increase of 2.9%. Daily spending rose even more sharply, climbing 5.4% to €188 per day, despite a slight reduction in the average length of stay to 7.4 days. Trips became marginally shorter, but clearly more expensive per day.
The UK remained the leading market as long-haul travel recovered
The United Kingdom once again ranked as Spain’s top source market in both visitor numbers and total spending. British tourists spent €1.3 billion in November alone, an increase of 12.7% compared with the previous year. Germanyfollowed with €949 million, while France ranked third with €581 million.
Across the full year:
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British visitors accounted for 17.8% of total tourism spending,
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Germany (11.8%)
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France (8.7%).
At the same time, so-called long-haul markets gained momentum. Visitors from the United States, Latin America and Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea significantly increased their spending, contributing to a 7.1% rise in expenditure from “rest of the world” markets.
Transport, activities and hotels dominated tourism expenditure
The breakdown of spending reveals further insight into travel behaviour. International transport, excluding package holidays, represented the largest share of tourism expenditure in 2025, accounting for 22.4% of the total. This was followed by leisure and cultural activities (20.5%) and accommodation (17.3%).
More than 57% of total tourism spending came from visitors staying in hotels, while expenditure linked to non-commercial accommodation continued to decline — a trend increasingly relevant in the broader debate on housing availability and tourism pressure.
Canary Islands led arrivals while Madrid posted the strongest growth
From a regional perspective, the Canary Islands remained the leading destination for international tourists in November 2025, welcoming 1.46 million visitors and accounting for 27.7% of total monthly spending, although growth there was more moderate. Catalonia ranked second, while the Community of Madrid recorded the strongest increase in tourism expenditure, with a rise of 14.6%, driven by urban, cultural and business travel.
Over the full year, Catalonia led tourism revenue with 18.5% of total spending, followed by the Canary Islands (17.5%) and the Balearic Islands (16.4%).
2025 marked a shift towards higher value tourism
The data for 2025 send a clear message:
Spain welcomed more international tourists than ever before, but tourism growth was driven even more strongly by higher spending per visitor and per day.
Rather than relying solely on volume, Spain’s tourism sector increasingly focused on greater economic value per tourist— a strategy long promoted by policymakers and industry leaders and one that clearly materialised in the figures for 2025.
