Spain receives 3.3 mln int'l tourists in Feb.

Spain received a total of 3.3 million international tourists in February, a 5.3 percent increase when compared with the same month of a year earlier, the Spanish tourism ministry reported on Monday.

The number of tourists arriving from Britain reached 640,202, an increase of 0.7 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 19.5 percent of the total. The next biggest influx of tourists were the French and the Germans whose arrivals increased by 7.1 percent and 3.5 percent to 536,935 and 514,349 tourists respectively.

The number of tourists from the Nordic countries reached 354,503 people in February, which meant a 5.8 percent decrease year-on-year; while the number of Italians visiting Spain increased an impressive 20.5 percent in February to 185,137 people.

In the first two months of the year, Spain received 6.5 million international tourists, according to the ministry. The figure is a 4.5 percent increase in comparison with the same period in 2014.

Arrivals from the United States, Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal rose by 18.7 percent, 9.4 percent, 8.6 percent and 8.3 percent respectively.

Visitors chose the archipelago of the Canary Islands as the main destination in February. The Islands received 1,008,599 tourists in February alone, followed by the northeastern region of Catalonia that saw 847,730 tourists come through.

Tourism is a driving force in the Spanish economy, representing around 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The country welcomed a total of around 65 million international tourists in 2014 who spent 63.1 billion euros (about 68.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the country, which is the world's third most popular tourist destination after France and the United States. Endit