Foreign tourism to Spain plunged in 2020 due to global COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions enacted by world’s governments
- 2020 turned out to be most disastrous year for Spain’s tourism in half of a century
- Tourist spending in Spain plunged more than seventy five percent
- COVID-19 pandemic was devastating for Spain’s tourism industry
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist flow to Spain last year decreased by 77.3% compared to 2019, according to the data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
18.9 million people visited Spain in 2020.
This is the lowest number in the last 50 years. Spain welcomed 20 million tourists in 1969.
Most of the tourists who visited Spain were from France – 3.9 million people. The second place was taken by the British – 3.2 million tourists, and the third place was taken by the Germans – 2.4 million people.
The Canaries, Catalonia and Valencia were the most popular Spanish destinations among tourists.
The 2020 foreign tourist spending in Spain amounted to 19.7 billion euros, while in the previous year foreign visitors spent 91.9 billion in the country.
