FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL

ALICANTE-ELCHE airport welcomed 1.43 million passengers in April - up by nearly 20% on a year earlier, and beating the previous April record set in 2019 by 7%. The same picture was mirrored at Valencia airport last month with 863,541 passengers - an annual rise of 19.5%, and 7% higher than April

Brits lead the way as visitor numbers soar

SPAIN was visited by 13.7 million foreign tourists in the first three months of the year - 41.2% more than in the same period in 2022.

Between January and March, the total spend by international tourists was €17.2 billion, an increase of 44.7% compared to the same quarter last year, according to the National Statistics Institute.

In March, 5.3 million visitors arrived in Spain (an increase of 30% compared to March 2022), who spent a total of €6.6 billion, 31.1% more than a year ago.

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hector Gomez, claimed the figures were proof that ‘2023 is becoming an extraordinary year for tourism in all measures with higher spending and longer stays’.

“We are witnessing the consolidation of tourism as one of the main drivers of the Spanish economy, which is also reflected in the quality of employment in the sector and in an increasingly varied and innovative range of destinations," Gomez added.

By country, the United Kingdom, dominates the foreign arrivals with 1.1 million vis-