A total of 48.8 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain during the first nine months of the year, which is a growth of 4.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2012, according to the Spain Tourism Office. While UK and Germany remained the main source markets with a growth of 4.4 per cent and four per cent respectively, the highest increase was from Russia with 30 per cent, even surpassing 1.3 million arrivals.
Nordic countries have also played an important role with a total of 3.6 million travellers visiting Spain until September, an increase of 17.7 per cent.
Almost 6.5 million international visitors arrived in Spain in September this year, a figure which involves an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to a year earlier?a new record following the one in August?according to the Tourist Movement over Borders survey by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Spain.
The total for the nine-month period reaches nearly 49 million international tourists. Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Andalusia account for 75 per cent of arrivals.