Spain tourist spending jumps 6.8 pct in Feb

 

Foreign tourists to Spain spent 2.7 billion euros last month, an increase of 6.8% compared to February 2010, according to survey results published earlier this week by the Industry, Tourism and Trade Ministry.

The study places February's average spend per visitor at 952 euros, a 2.3 % increase on the same period last year.

In the first two months of 2011, foreign visitors to Spain spent over 5.18 billion euros, an increase of 4.9 % compared to the first 2 months of 2010.

The Canary Islands led the way in spend by region, where spending by foreign tourists in February reached a total of 949 million euros, and was also the region to witness the largest growth, at 16.5%.

Catalonia followed with the second-largest regional revenues of this kind, 532 million euros, an increase of 3.2%, and then Andalusia with 338 million euros - a fall of 1%.

Germans and Britons remained the biggest spenders among foreign visitors to Spain.

Hotel room nights increased by 12% during this period, while a drop of 1.5% was seen in other accomodation, such as private rentals, B&B's, Hostels and campsites.