The Valencian Community registered a historical maximum in international tourism in 2023, as shown by the results of data published on Friday by the INE regarding Tourist Movements and Tourist Expenditure.
Nearly 10.4 million foreign tourists spent nearly 12,575 million euros in the Community. Although the data is not broken down by province, 70% corresponds to the province of Alicante, with the data now exceeding that of 2019, the year before the pandemic.
In 2023, Catalonia was the community that received the most international tourists, but it was the only one among the main destinations that had not yet recovered its pre-pandemic data, while the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands gained more than 2.4 million visitors compared to 2019.
The tourist entry figures (Frontur) published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show that arrivals to Spain rose by 18.7% over 2022 to 85,056,528 international visitors, which are 1,547,375 (1.85%) more than in 2019, before the pandemic.
The Balearic Islands accounted for 14,405,322 (16.94% of the total), the Canary Islands 13,942,965 (16.39%), Andalusia 12,200,666 (14.34%), the Valencian Community 10,491,985 (12.34%), Madrid 7,841,055 (9.22%) and the rest of the communities 8,170,526 together (9.61%). Arrivals to the Valencian Community grew by 956,489 (10.03%) compared to 2019.
Surveys show that international tourists who visited the Valencian Community in 2023 exceeded 10.4 million (10,491,985), with an increase of 21.8% year-on-year, above the average for Spain, which is 18.7 %, and spent 12,575 million euros, which represents an increase of 24.5% compared to 2022.
The survey also shows that in 2023 the average expenditure per tourist amounts to 1,199 euros, increasing by 2.2% year-on-year, and the average daily expenditure in 2023 stands at 124 euros, 5% higher than that recorded in 2022.
The Minister of Tourism, Nuria Montes, assessed these results as very positive, since these figures corroborate that 2023 has been the best tourist year and confirm that “it has been the year of the true recovery of tourism for the Community”. Montes said that foreign tourism has a greater spending volume than national tourists, and they also have longer stays. An average of nine days in Spain as a whole.
Montes added, “not only is the increase in tourists important, but so is the increase in spending, which is still above the growth in tourists.”
The Minister said that “the trends show that in 2024 the Valencian Community will once again be at these figures, or maybe even higher, because the sales rate is holding up very well.”
The figures for December also displayed outstanding results with surveys showing that the best number of international tourists in history was recorded in the month of December, with a total of 714,043 arrivals, 39% more than in December 2022.
