Anti-tourism protesters have had their intentions dashed as UK tourists spend even more in a major Spanish region. European Union turists are spending more and visiting more places in a region of Spain that saw anti-tourism protests earlier this year.

Andalusia has seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of municipalities visited by Brits this year. Andalusian tourism officials promoted the destination on the first day of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, considered one of the three most important tourism events in the world, and which runs from this Tuesday 5 November until Thursday 7 November.

Findings show Brits are spending 40 per cent more than at previous measures. Jacobo Florido said that British tourists booked 15 percent more hotel night stays than in 2023. That means an increase of 135,000 extra hotel stays.

“It is a tourist who stays mostly in hotels and who is looking for everything that an urban destination has to offer”, he said. “We are a very appealing destination. In fact, Malaga is the city with the highest growth in overnight stays among cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants,” Florido added.

According to Turismo Costa del Sol CEO Esperanza González, carriers have programmed 11 percent more seats on flights between Malaga Airport and the UK from October to December 2024. That means there are 719,320 seats available.

“We are very satisfied with the results obtained in what is our main international issuing market. In addition to the fact that we are going to reach the records of the historical 2019 in overnight stays of British tourists in the region is that we have managed to attract a visitor who has raised the average spend per person per day by 40% to 152 euros, with an average stay of one week,” Aguilar said.