2007 starts with a record number of tourists

The year starts well for tourism: During January this year 2.8 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain, a record number for that month and 4% higher than in January 2006. The Canaries was still at the top of the list of destinations, although the archipelago was the only region to have received less foreign tourists than the previous year.

Some 811,000 visitors, 28.6% of all tourists who visited Spain in January, chose to visit the Canary Islands - probably unsurprising, given the climate we can offer in that month that other regions can't. This number still put the Canaries at the head of the list at the beginning of the year, even though the number of tourists visiting the islands was 2.6% down on 2006. The fall is principally owing to a 6.2% decrease in the principal market, British visitors, who made up 31.1% of the arrivals.

At national level, one in four visitors to Spain in January were British (713,000), 4.7% down on the previous year. Germany was in second position with 469,000 tourists, 16.6% of the total and 1.2% higher than in January of 2006 and, of whom almost half opted to visit the Canary Islands. In third place were the French, with an increase of 13.9%, bringing their numbers in January alone up to 349,000. There was also an increase in visitors from Portugal by 30.9% and of Irish tourists by 12.7%.

The majority, 78.2% of tourists, arrive by plane, although those arriving by road rose by 15.4%. Some 64.2% choose to stay in hotels and seven out of ten tourists opt to travel independently, that is rather than buying an "all-in" package holiday.

El año 2007 empieza con récord de turistas a nivel nacional y con Canarias a la cabeza

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