Spain’s Andalucía is pinning all its hopes on 2023 as the best year ever for international tourism to the region
The Andalucía Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Sport, Arturo Bernal, has announced that the region had not only recovered but also surpassed the tourism figures of 2019, which was considered the best year for tourism.
This accomplishment was achieved in the national market, and the region hopes to achieve the same success in international tourism this year. Bernal made this announcement during the opening day of the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin, which is being held in person after a three-year hiatus.
According to Bernal, 2023 will be the year of the “recovery” of international tourism and is likely to be even better than 2019.
An objective that he hopes to achieve is an increase “not only in tourists”, but mainly in income and stays, given that the levels of foreign tourism “are getting closer and closer to the best figures in history”.
In January of this year, Andalucían hotels welcomed 400,000 international travellers, resulting in 1.1 million overnight stays. This tourist figure is the second-highest since 2018 for the month of January, with only 50,000 fewer travellers than in 2019. This increase in tourism is a positive sign for the Ministry.
Additionally, the Ministry is optimistic due to the rise in international airline seats to Andalucía between March and May of this year. There has been an increase of 280,000 seats as compared to 2019, totalling around 4.5 million seats during these three months.
