by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:35 PM ET, Thu May 1, 2025
Spain’s tourism industry shattered records last year, momentum that a new industry analysis says was driven by a variety of market forces including tour operator growth and proliferating high-speed rail competition.
The number of international travelers to Spain in 2024 grew by 10.1 percent to reach 93.8 million, per a new Spain Travel Market Brief published by Phocuswright, echoing many earlier news reports about Spain’s visitor growth.
Visitor spending also increased in 2024, by a steep 16 percent to reach €126 billion (about $142 billion). That figure represents an impressive 13 percent of the country’s GDP.
These developments have helped to solidify Spain’s position as the world’s second-most-visited country (behind France).
The new Phocuswright analysis sheds light on some of the factors that have helped drive Spain’s visitation boom, pointing to surging tour operator growth and new competition in high-speed rail.
At the segment level, tour operators experienced the strongest growth in 2024, at 16 percent, driven by the overall solid performance of the Spanish economy, according to Phocuswright.
In the rail segment, high-speed operators Iryo and Ouigo are apparently strengthening their presence on the main routes they operate in Spain, while expanding into lower-density routes. This development allowed each operator to increase gross bookings by 20 percent in 2024.
The growth in traveler spending that’s taking place in Spain, meanwhile, is linked to the expanding presence of international, high-end hotel chains that have chosen Spain as a key market for expansion plans. Madrid, for example, now ranks second among European capitals for hotel investment, behind only London.
Malaga, Spain. (Photo Credit: SeanPavonePhoto / Adobe Stock)
Headwinds Ahead for Spain?
The country’s booming tourism industry hasn’t been welcome news for everyone, however. Overtourism has become a significant issue in hotspots where locals are fed up with the crowds and have staged regular protests. The protests have been significant, with hundreds of thousands of residents joining forces to rally against a housing crisis caused by too many short-term rentals, selfie-obsessed tourists, and the situation’s unsustainability.
Officials at all levels in the country have been steadily working to address some of the challenges of the booming tourism industry, including adopting a variety of new laws.
Popular short-term rental-heavy destinations, including Alicante and Malaga, have begun passing legislation to ban or significantly reduce the number of new short-term vacation rentals in their cities and towns.
Meanwhile, Barcelona has pledged to eliminate all short-term vacation rentals by 2028 and announced plans to significantly increase tourist taxes for travelers who stay in the city for under 12 hours, including cruise passengers.
Additionally, Spain is poised to adopt new nationwide legislation that would establish a 100 percent tax on non-EU citizens purchasing property in the country. This effort is meant to help address the housing crisis, as well.
The country’s “golden visa” program, which provided access to residency permits for wealthy outsiders who purchased real estate worth around half a million, also ended earlier this month.
With all of these developments as a backdrop, the Phocuswright analysis predicts that the double-digit growth rate Spain has been experiencing will not be sustainable over the long term.
The same goes for the booming spending. The price increases currently being experienced in the country, which have driven up tourism spending figures, will likely stabilize as inflation and energy costs come under control.
Moreover, uncertainty regarding U.S. economic policies may negatively impact the U.S. economy, which could directly affect the performance of the Spanish tourism market.
Still, geopolitical instability in Eastern Europe and the Middle East shows signs of easing, which would benefit inbound tourism to Spain.
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