Tourism

Foreign tourist spending continues to soar in the Balearics

Tourist spending across the Balearics has been increasing sharply. | Javier Coll

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma05/07/2016 00:00

Spending by foreign tourists in the Balearics during the first five months of the year was up 13.8% to 2,762 million euros. The latest Egatur survey of tourist spending shows that the daily average spend rose to 140 euros, while the average spending for a whole stay was down by 11% to 904 euros. In May, the spending increased to 1,457 million euros, a rise of more than 11% compared with May 2015.

At national level the spending between January and May was 24,814 million euros - up almost 7%. The May figure was 6,914 million, a rise of just under eight per cent. Average expenditure per stay was 974 euros in May, a very slight rise, with average daily spending up by 4.2% to 141 euros. The average length of stay was calculated as 6.9 days in May.

Also at national level, it was the British who once more spent the most. For the first five months this was 4,918 million (13.8% more and almost 20% of all foreign tourist spending). The average spend was 845 euros (down by 2%), while in May the total spend was up by more than ten per cent to 1,486 million.

The German market was second and spent 3.616 million from January to May. This was a rise of 2.7% and represented 14.6% of all foreign tourist spending. The average spend - 952 euros - was, despite being down slightly, considerably higher than UK average spend. In May, the German spending rose by just under 4% to 1,101 million.

Over the five months, the Balearics ranked sixth among the regions of Spain. The Canaries headed the list with just over 6,000 million euros of foreign tourist spend. Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid and Valencia in that order were also above the Balearics.