19% increases in foreign tourists to the Balearics this summer.

According to its website, the figure for the Balearics in percentage terms is better than Spain as a whole which will be hosting 12 percent more foreign tourists this summer. Homelidays says that sun, sea and sand holidays still remain the most important attraction for overseas visitors.

Research showed that the regions experiencing the most increase in foreign tourists this year are the Balearics and Catalonia (the latter with an extra 18 percent more in July and August this year), but topping the bill is the Basque Country which will be having 53 percent more visitors in summer this year than last following a ceasefire announcement last October by terrorist group ETA. Year on year increases in other major holiday destination regions include Andalucia where there will be just a 1 percent rise, Valencia which expects no increase at all and the Canary Islands, just 9 percent more overseas visitors this July and August in comparison with the same two months in 2011.

Not all regions of Spain will be having more foreign visitors this season. The number going to Madrid is down by 26 percent in comparison with 2011, and in Murcia there is a 10 percent downturn.

Homelidays, a top holiday home rental site for Europe, says that increasingly, Britons and Germans are preferring a flat or villa to rent for their holidays; 47% more people from the United Kingdom are wanting to rent in Spain this year.