The data is expected, but this has made it official Tuesday: tourism in Spain broke records in 2013 with the arrival of tourists 60,661,073, representing an increase of 5.6 % over 2012. Faced with a weak overall economy and the nascent recovery, the sector returned to pull himself as more dynamic activity of a country that has managed to overtake China as the third most visited destination in the world, thanks largely to the attractiveness of beaches and climate. First place is still held by France (83 million) and the U.S. (67 million) is the second destination.
The importance that the Government gives the industry and its success has been evident in the support given to the pre - Fitur in Madrid which opens this Wednesday - and that has coincided with a conference lobby Exceltur. The ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Executive, Mariano Rajoy, announced himself to the data and its intervention has been accompanied by the minister, José Manuel Soria. Rajoy, after holding the record for visitors, has praised the contribution of tourism to the exit from the crisis and "outstanding" role of entrepreneurs. In the same vein, he has called the industry as the " figurehead " of the economy and has defended the government's actions in this regard, as the controversial Ley de Costas.
According to data from the survey has Frontur published after the Ministry of Industry, the arrival of international tourists to Spain in 2013 grew above the increase experienced by the sector worldwide, which was 5%. This was possible because throughout the year there were six consecutive monthly maximum from May to October. Moreover, not only is no improvement in the number of tourists, who also spent more money. Through November, the balance is 55,896,000, nearly nine points higher than all of 2012.
The main markets in 2013 increased the issuance of tourists to Spain after suffering because of the economic crisis. Leading UK which was again the first emitter with 23.6 % of all tourists and managed to grow by 5.2 % compared to 2012 remained, Germany, with 16.2% of visitors rose 5.8 %, France 15.7%, showed an increase of 6.9% and the Nordic countries, which now account for 8% of the total, increased by 16.9%.
Special mention deserves the behavior of the Russian market, but against the total still represents a small part of the pie, it's the fastest growing group. And difference. The arrival of tourists from Russia increased by 31.6 % over 2013, to almost 1.6 million people.
Depending on how the books are organized tourists coming to Spain, Industry Statistical notes that more and more people are traveling without tour package. This was the preferred option 42.4 million tourists, 69.9 % of the total and 6.8 % from 18.2 million in 2012. Tourists came with package tour increased 2.9 % to 18.2 million.
communities Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Valencia, Catalonia and the Basque Country reached record highs in international tourist arrivals in 2013. Catalonia led the ranking with a rise of 8% and got the highest percentage of foreign visitors with the arrival of 15.5 million, 25.8 % of the total. Balearic followed with an increase of 7.2 % (11.1 million) and 18.3 % of the total. Canary stood behind them in third place, with 10.6 million tourists, up 17.5%, with a rise of 4.9%.
Behind Andalusia, with 7.8 million tourists, garnered 13% of the total and recorded a 4.7% increase in visitors in 2013. The greatest increase was recorded Valencia, up from 11.4 % to 5.9 million tourists, with 18.3 % of total arrivals.
In contrast, the number of tourists in the Community of Madrid was reduced by 5.3 % to 4.2 million tourists, 7% of the total. However, in December the negative trend of recent months broke as it saw an increase of 19.8 % over the same month in 2012, up to 314,991 tourists, up 10.3%.
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