Nearly 1 in 4 tourists came to Balearics

THE Balearic Islands laid claim to a sizeable 24.4 percent of the total of tourists visiting Spain in August, topped only by Catalonia's lead of 25.1 percent. The arrival of foreign visitors to Spain last month, some 7'294 million people, showed a strong decline of 6.8 percent compared to last year. In the opinion of Germán Porras, secretary general for Tourism, August this year has been viewed as a month “uncharacteristic” of Spanish tourism. He insisted however that this low figure should be seen in the context of the strong 14 percent increase in foreign visitors to Spain that was recorded in August of 2002 against figures for 2001. This also, was an “exceptional development” for the industry. However, figures for the Balearics were up by nearly three percent, thanks to an increase in British and German visitors.
The principal client market in Spain last month was the United Kingdom, accounting for 2.1 million tourists, some 7.4 percent more than in August 2002 and an accumulated figure of 11.6 million people representing a growth of 12.2 percent. The second most significant market was France providing 1.5 million tourists, a drop of 16.9 percent. Commenting on methods of travel to and from Spain by visitors, the director confirmed that figures for visitors arriving by air grew by 8.2 percent in August which was encouraging. Traditionally, more tourists arrive by air than any other method of transport. Speaking at a Press conference, Porras said that the accumulated figures for the first eight months of the year have yielded a very positive figure of 37.1 million tourists, 0.5 percent more than in the same period of 2002. Speaking about September forecasts, he indicated that judging from information being received from hoteliers associations, the trend looks “quite good”.