Spain sees record number of foreign tourists in Q1

MADRID, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A record number of 13.7 million foreign tourists was registered in Spain in the first quarter of 2018, 7.7 percent more than the same quarter of last year, data released by the Spanish government agencies Frontur and Egatur showed on Friday.

March was the most popular month for foreign visitors, partly due to the early Easter holidays, with 5.4 million foreigners (9.6 percent more than in 2017) spending 5.72 billion euros (12.1 percent more than in 2017) in Spain.

by countries, Britain was the most important source market, with 2.9 million British visiting Spain (0.4 percent higher than in 2017). Germany and France followed Britain with 1.9 million Germans (1.9 percent up) and 1.7 million French (0.7 percent higher) visiting the country.

The Canary Islands of Spain were the most popular destination thanks to their winter sun. They received 3.7 million visitors (1.7 percent more than 2017), who spent a total of 4.48 billion euros.

The Catalan region, which was hit by both a political crisis due to an independent attempt and terrorist attacks last August, seems unaffected by the adverse situations, as it saw a 3.4 percent increase in the number of people visiting the region with 3.1 million visitors spending nearly 3.1 billion euros.

During the same period, Andalusia had 1.9 million visitors, who spent a total of 2.17 billion euros, 9.8 percent more than the same period of 2017. Enditem