Spain reaches 12.3 million foreign tourists in August 2026 as spending tops €17.8 billion

National arrivals and spending

According to provisional data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain registered 12.3 million international tourist arrivals in August 2026, an increase of 9.2% compared to August 2025. Total foreign visitor spending during the month reached 17,838 million euros, representing an identical year-on-year increase of 9.2%. Across the first eight months of 2026, foreign tourist arrivals reached 70,362,493, up 5.4% from the same period in 2025, while cumulative expenditure rose 8% to 99,892 million euros. Average spending per traveler in August stood at 1,455 euros, matching 2025 levels, while daily spending grew 1.9% to 202 euros. The duration of stay across Spain was concentrated between four and seven nights for 5.8 million visitors, an increase of 10.1%.

Regional distribution across autonomous communities

The Balearic Islands remained the leading destination in August 2026, attracting 21.2% of all foreign visitors (2.60 million arrivals, an increase of 2.6%) and generating 22.8% of total spending. Catalonia ranked second with 19.4% of arrivals (a 9.1% increase), while Andalusia was third with 16.8%, receiving 2,065,044 visitors, a 21.3% increase that represented the fastest pace among the six main tourist regions. Foreign spending in Andalusia grew 18.8% to 2,797 million euros. Manuel Gavira, Andalusia's second vice president and regional minister of tourism, framed the results around regional economic development.

Andalusia has the strength to continue growing and the ambition for that growth to translate into more opportunities for Andalusians. Our goal is for tourism success to be felt in employment, in businesses, and in the lives of our towns and cities.

Other coastal and urban destinations also expanded their visitor numbers. The Valencian Community received 1.68 million foreign tourists in August (up 9.41%), generating 2,392 million euros in spending (up 6.73%), with an average stay of 9.9 days and a daily spend of 144 euros. The Canary Islands saw 1.24 million foreign arrivals (up 0.3%) with spending of 2,296 million euros (up 3.1%) and a daily spend of 224 euros. In Madrid, July and August combined drew over 1.5 million foreign visitors (up 12.1%) who spent nearly 3,000 million euros, contributing to a regional tourism sector that accounts for 9% of Madrid's gross domestic product. Mariano de Paco Serrano, Madrid's regional minister for culture, tourism, and sports, commented on the regional performance.

The summer data, July and August, have been the best in our history.

Source markets and outbound country trends

The United Kingdom remained Spain's primary outbound source market in August 2026, supplying 2.41 million visitors (up 9.3%) and 3,366 million euros in expenditure (up 7.6%), accounting for 18.9% of all foreign tourist spending. France followed with nearly 2.06 million arrivals (up 2.1%) and 2,240 million euros in spending, while Germany accounted for 1.36 million visitors (up 4.5%) and 1,974 million euros. Long-haul and non-EU travel showed the fastest expansion rates: arrivals from the United States grew 31.9% to 481,911 tourists, while Swiss visitors rose 29.3% to 249,032. Conversely, arrivals from the Netherlands dropped 0.9% and Irish tourist arrivals fell 2.9%.