Average expenditure of foreign tourists in Comunidad Valenciana exceeds pre-pandemic levels

Monday 9th May 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: press release – GVA Turisme

Foreign tourism to the Comunidad Valenciana has been recovering during 2022, according to data from the first quarter provided by the Frontur-Egatur surveys carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The regional tourism secretary, Francesc Colomer, said that the end of restrictions on movement to reduce the spread of COVID-19 has been reflected in the official statistics for the first quarter of 2022.

During the first three months of the year, foreign demand in the Comunidad Valenciana increased by 831.7% year-on-year (23.4% less than in 2019) whilst tourism spending increased by 752.8% (down 9.7% on 2019).

However, when compared to the figures exclusively for 2019, the year before the pandemic with returned great results for the tourism sector in the region, during the first quarter of 2022 there was in increase in both spending per trip (17.9%) and the average length of stay (10.8%) as well as the average daily spending (6.4%).

According to the results, Colomer explained that the profile of the foreign tourist post-pandemic is that they spend more and stay longer in the Comunidad Valenciana, although he admitted that the results and high percentages should be assessed with “caution and with the logic of the moment we are living in” and stressed that “the data that really interests us is the consolidation of destination and the trend in improving profitability“.

By Province

Alicante: the number of foreign tourists during the first quarter of 2022 (estimated at 700,346 tourists) has grown by 1,221.2% year-on-year. In addition, the increase in the average stay by French tourists (44.6%), estimated at 17 days, stands out. After the United Kingdom (227,856), France and the Nordic countries are the next biggest markets, with 79.856 and 79,825 visitors respectively.

In Benidorm, the number of tourists during the first quarter of 2022 – 179,789 – increased by 2,759.9% with an average stay of 8.5 days and an increase of average daily spend of 28.4%.

Castellón: the number of foreign tourists (estimated at 34,960) has grown during the first quarter of the year by 283.7% year-on-year.

Valencia, during the first quarter of 2022 the number of tourists (429,986 tourists) has grown by 583.1% year-on-year. Of note is the increase in the average stay by French tourists (15.7%), estimated at 9.6 days, and the Netherlands (9.2%). In addition, the data show that France and Italy were the main markets for the quarter, with 98,582 and 66,078 visitors respectively.

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