At the beginning of the year (2025), the press – specialised and otherwise – echoed the announcement by the Spanish Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, that Spain would break a new record in the number of “international visitors” in 2024. So, based on statistical data provided by the National Statistics Institute (NSI), Hereu assured that in the year in question, tourists “will be close to 94 million” -93.8 according to the NSI-, 10% more than in 2023. The figure was accompanied by another equally good – if not better – figure, namely that total tourist spending had also increased, in this case by 16% over the previous year, to €126 billion.
As is well known, these figures are approximate and are established according to different statistical methodologies. In this case – and we quote the NSI – the numbers are obtained by means of a series of algorithms that operate on “a mixed system for obtaining results”. This mixed system “relies on three types of information”, namely: administrative data provided by different public bodies and companies “responsible for the different access routes to Spain”; manual counts of vehicles and people at road border crossings; and surveys on the four access routes to the country -roads, airports, railways and ports-, ‘”by direct interview when the traveller leaves Spain, by means of a multilingual electronic questionnaire”.
Well, according to an experimental statistical method implemented by the Spanish NSI, and which has nothing to do with conventional methodology, Spain would have actually received some 100 million tourists in 2024. “In short”, the new data -which improves on the best- is obtained by measuring the “active and passive events” captured by the antennas on mobile phones.
Therefore, through this experimental methodology, the NSI collects “in aggregate form” data on the origin of tourists and, in the case of “resident tourists”, the country or countries they visit on their trips abroad; the origin of foreign tourists visiting “the different autonomous communities, provinces and municipalities” of Spain; and the origin and destination of resident tourists visiting the different autonomous communities, provinces and municipalities.
The fact that Spain will have received 100 million visitors in 2024 is news in itself, useful for the leisure and tourism sector that we address in our news. Moreover, it establishes the country as what it has been for decades: one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. However, this new statistical method -which is the focus of today’s news- seems to us to be more accurate than the usual one. We will therefore continue to keep an eye on the tourism figures it provides in the coming months.
Sources: INE 1, INE 2, RTVE, Ministerio de Industria y Turismo.
