{"id":337251,"date":"2025-08-12T02:03:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T02:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337251\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T02:03:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T02:03:26","slug":"spain-malta-finland-which-eu-countries-are-international-tourists-visiting-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337251\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain, Malta, Finland: Which EU countries are international tourists visiting the most?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Europe welcomed 125 million international tourists in the first three months of 2025, according to the United Nations&#8217; World Tourism Barometer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This marks a 2% increase compared to the same period in 2024 and a 5% rise compared to the pre-pandemic figures from the same period.<\/p>\n<p>International tourist arrivals also increased by 5% between January and March 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unwto.org\/un-tourism-world-tourism-barometer-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> by the UN World Tourism Organisation tracked which countries earn the most through tourism and the most visited destinations at the beginning of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2025\/08\/10\/new-heatwave-continues-unabated-in-southern-europe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Southern Mediterranean Europe<\/a>, arrivals increased by 2%, reflecting growing demand for off-season travel to some destinations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Central and Eastern Europe also experienced an 8% increase in visitor numbers compared to 2024, particularly in Baltic destinations. <\/p>\n<p>However, the overall visitor numbers in this subregion still remain somewhat below the levels seen in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lithuania (+21%), Malta (19%), Latvia (16%), Finland (+15%), and Spain (+6%) reported the highest increases in international arrivals among EU destinations in the first three months of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, Luxembourg, Ireland, Sweden, and Belgium saw fewer international tourists arriving in these countries compared to 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Which EU countries are earning the most from tourism?<\/p>\n<p>Despite these positive trends in international tourism, experts are concerned about economic factors, including weaker economic growth, high travel costs and the increase in tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>These are seen as the three main challenges that could impact international tourism in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>According to a survey by the UNWTO Panel of Experts, a quarter of respondents anticipate that trade tensions could have an impact on tourism performance in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Spain, the world\u2019s second-largest tourism earner, reported a 9% growth in visitor spending between January and February, compared to the same two months in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This follows a significant 16% growth in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>France experienced a 6% rise in international tourism income, while Denmark saw an 11% increase in the first quarter of 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Greece, Italy, and Portugal also reported a 4% rise in tourism profits during this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT Europe welcomed 125 million international tourists in the first three months of 2025, according to the United&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,5006,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-337251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-tourism","13":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115013340658339203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}