Hereu previews another historic year: international tourist spending in 2024 will reach €126 billion

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, during the press conference held at the Ministry

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has advanced the projection of international tourist arrivals and spending figures that certify that 2024 was the best year for tourism in Spain since records began. He also indicated how much tourism will grow in the first four months of 2025, and outlined how the labour market in the tourism sector performed in 2024.

At a press conference held at the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Hereu explained that according to the year-end forecasts made by Turespaña, spending at the destination in 2024 will have grown by around 16% compared to 2023, to €126 billion, and international visitors will have reached 94 million, 10% more than the previous year.

These figures confirm that Spain once again experienced a record year and, in Hereu's opinion, this ratifies that our country is moving towards a higher quality and more diversified tourism model in terms of season, products and destinations, in line with the public policies promoted by the Government in recent years.

Towards a change of tourism model

In his speech, Jordi Hereu referred to some trends that exemplify the transformation of our tourism model. With regard to deseasonalisation, on comparing the flow of arrivals in 2019 (the last year before the pandemic) with what happened in 2024, it can be seen that the months of the low and medium seasons saw higher increases in travellers than the average, and higher increases than the months of the high season. In other words, Spain continues to grow in terms of travellers in the high season, but at a slower rate than in the rest of the year.

In terms of diversification and experiences, 2024 saw significant changes in the travel motivations of international tourists. Compared to the reference year 2019, this past year 32% and 28% of tourists said they visited us for cultural and gastronomic reasons, respectively. These figures are above the average for the set of reasons included in the EGATUR survey.

With regard to the number of visitors by region, notably from January to November 2024, the rate of change of tourists and expenditure in the regions of so-called green and inland Spain grew in relative terms with respect to 2023, above the average for Spain and the six main regions. For example, the number of tourists from the main communities grew by 10.5% and expenditure by 16.5% in 2024, while that of the communities associated with green and inland Spain grew by 12.9% in terms of tourists and 18.9% in terms of expenditure.

As a last relevant trend, if we analyse the main outbound markets of tourists to our country, we observe that in 2024 the high-value markets (such as the USA, Latin America and Asia) grew significantly above the European market.

Growth in the first four months of 2025

With regard to the performance of tourism during the first four months of 2025, Jordi Hereu - who was accompanied at the press conference by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez Grau, the Director General of Turespaña, Miguel Sanz, and the Director General of Tourism Policies, Ana Muñoz Llabrés - estimated that Spain could reach €36 billion in tourism expenditure, 16% more than in the same period in 2024, and a number of visitors close to 26 million tourists, 9% more than in the same period of the previous year.

Last, Hereu brought forward the data on tourist affiliation for December, which will be officially published on Friday 17 January. Tourism employment rose in the last month of 2024 by 3.8% compared to the same month in 2023, to 2.6 million workers. Hereu emphasised that 2024 ended, as 2023 did, with the highest number of affiliates in the historical series and, moreover, with a fall in temporary employment and an improvement in salaried employment, which grew by 4.4% year-on-year in December. In terms of tourism employment, 2024 saw an improvement not only in quantity but also in quality.

Despite the historic figures for 2024 and the good prospects for the year that has just begun, the minister said that all stakeholders in the tourism sector must be aware that much remains to be done and that there should be no complacency. Hereu stressed that the public sector must continue to govern, care for and promote the tourism industry, one of the pillars of our economy, which generates prosperity for citizens, workers and companies.

Turespaña at Fitur 2025

A few days before the start of FITUR 2024, one of the most important tourism fairs held annually in the world, Jordi Hereu recalled the importance of this event for the tourism industry in our country. The backbone of this year's edition of the fair will be the generation and exchange of knowledge as a key driver for innovation, competitiveness and sustainability, objectives aligned, as the minister pointed out, with those that the government has set for this term of office.

The 45th edition of FITUR will begin at IFEMA on Wednesday 22 January for professionals, and on Saturday 25 January for the general public. This year there will be more than 9,500 participating companies, 156 countries and more than 150,000 professionals, and as in previous editions, there will be specialised areas such as Fitur Woman, Fitur Talent and Fitur LGTB+.

At this new edition of FITUR, Turespaña - the public body under the Ministry of Industry and Tourism that promotes Spain as a tourist destination - will have a space of 605 square metres, located in Hall 9 of IFEMA. As every year, its stand will be an institutional reference for the entire sector, companies and other administrations, and this year will revolve around Spain as a tourist destination committed to sustainability, and the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the creation of Turespaña, which will be celebrated in 2025.

Turespaña carried out more than 2,000 tourism marketing actions in 2024, including the successful collaboration with National Geographic and Conde Nast, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Eduardo Chillida, and the actions for the celebration of the America's Cup in Barcelona. Turespaña also strengthened its marketing of the city of Valencia and the Comunitat Valenciana in the wake of the DANA at the end of 2024, and for the year 2025 more than 130 activities are planned to be carried out in collaboration with the city and the community.

Non official translation