Spain reaches almost 6 million passengers from international airports in January.

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Spain starts 2024 with a 12.7% increase in international air passengers

In January, our country received 5.9 million international air passengers, 12.7% more than in the same month of 2023, according to data published by Turespaña. Of these almost 6 million, 57.3% came from within the European Union, experiencing an increase of 13.1%, while the flow from the rest of the world, which accounted for the remaining 42.7%, grew by 12.3%.

The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, highlighted “the importance of Spain’s strong increase as a favourite destination for the global tourism market”. In Hereu’s opinion, “the fact that we continue to grow in tourists is good, but it is even better to continue to make progress in the challenge of diversifying and improving the quality of tourism, and today’s data confirms this good trend, a reflection of the policies promoted by the Government”.

January began with a strong upward trend, as the number of passengers departing to Spain from all the main issuing countries increased compared to the figures for the same month in 2023, except for Portugal. Of particular note is the notable growth in Poland (77%), Ireland (19.2%), Italy (18.2%) and the United States (17.5%) in January. The diversification of markets in the rest of the world reached a weight of close to 30% and an increase of 13.7% over a year ago.

The United Kingdom, with 1.1 million international passengers, generated 17.9% of the total flow of arrivals to Spain in January, registering a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. The Canary Islands was the largest recipient of arrivals, accounting for 42.7% of the total number of passengers of British origin. 81.6% of British passengers traveled on a low-cost airline, with the United Kingdom being the leader in arrivals on these airlines, accounting for 25.2% of the total.

Passenger arrivals from Germany in January amounted to 687,829 (11.6% of the total), up 11% compared to January 2023. German travellers went mainly to the Canary Islands (40.5% of passengers). As a noteworthy fact, slightly less than half of the German passengers (49.8% of the total) travelled on traditional airlines, with Germany being the market that led the arrivals in this type of company (13.7% of the total).

Italy accounted for 10.7% of the passenger flow received in January (632,563 travellers), registering a year-on-year growth of 18.2%, which especially benefited Catalonia and the Community of Madrid. The Basque Country and the Valencian Community recorded notable year-on-year growth of over 30%. Among Italian travellers, those who choose low-cost airlines predominated, 78.9%, with an increase of 21.4% over a year ago.

France, on the other hand, issued 7.3% of total passengers in January, showing an expansion of 1.6% that especially favoured Madrid and Catalonia, which received more than 100,000 arrivals respectively and together accounted for 62.5% of total arrivals. A total of 63.1% of French passengers used CBC on their flights, experiencing a year-on-year growth of 1.5%.

Finally, the Netherlands accounted for 4.8% of total arrivals. This market experienced growth of 11.7% in January, with Catalonia and Valencia as the main destinations, together accounting for 42% of arrivals. The vast majority of travellers from the Netherlands also opted for low-cost airlines for their flights.

Autonomous Communities of Destination
The six main autonomous communities accounted for a 97.8% share of arrivals and all experienced increases in the first month of the year. The largest year-on-year increases – of 21.3% and 18.5% – were in Andalusia and Valencia.

Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport received the most arrivals in January, with 1.7 million, followed by Barcelona, with 1.2 million, and Tenerife South, with 540 thousand. The highest year-on-year increase was at Malaga airport, with 22.6% more, followed by Alicante, with 21.2%.