Spain Recovers More Than Half Of Pre-Pandemic International Airport Passengers In September

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Spain received five million passengers from international airports in September, which is more than half of the arrivals in September 2019 (9.7 million) and an increase of 437% compared to the same month in 2020, according to data from Turespaña.

In the year to date, the volume of arrivals reached 20.7 million passengers, 12.7% more than in 2020.

For the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, this data “reflects that we are heading in the right direction and that the recovery of the Spanish tourism sector is solid, consolidating month by month with the official data that we are getting”.

For the Minister for Tourism, the increase in arrivals from the main source countries shows that “Spain is perceived as a safe and quality destination where a few days’ rest can be enjoyed. And this has been possible thanks to the good pace achieved in the vaccination process, which has made it possible to convey certainty to international travellers, together with the use of the EU digital COVID certificate, which has facilitated travel within the EU, together with the efforts of our tourism sector and the success of the promotional campaign deployed by Turespaña and our offices abroad to strengthen the positioning of our country as the number one holiday destination,” said Maroto.

Of the total number of international passengers who travelled to Spain in September, the majority (59.8%) travelled on a low-cost airline, while the remaining 40.2% opted for traditional airlines.

In September, all the main source countries grew

The increase in international passengers has been recorded in all the main source countries, with Germany (18.5% and 934,338 people) as the leading market, registering an increase of 688% year-on-year, with arrivals mainly to the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Passenger arrivals from British airports (17.3%) remain in second position with an increase of 387% compared to the same month in 2020, reaching 877,108 people.

The third source country of international passengers was Italy, with 428,661 passengers whose main destinations were Catalonia and Madrid. Followed by France (394,856) and the Netherlands (379,636) which is the country showing the highest degree of recovery (85%) compared to pre-pandemic data, September 2019.

Main destination Autonomous Communities

The Balearic Islands was the main destination autonomous community in September (23.2% and 1,176,055 passengers), accumulating 24.7% of international passenger arrivals so far this year, which now exceed five million passengers.

It is followed by the Community of Madrid (19% and 959,706 passengers), Catalonia (18% and 908,572), Andalusia (13.6% and 689,937), the Canary Islands (12.1% and 613,951) and the Community of Valencia (11.8% and 597,870).

By airports, Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas received the highest volume of international passengers (19% of the total), followed by Palma de Mallorca (17.1%), Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (16.9%), Málaga (11.3%), Alicante (8%), Ibiza (4.9%), Tenerife Sur (4.7%), Valencia (3.8%), Gran Canaria (3%) and Fuerteventura (2.2%).

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