Tourist arrivals to Spain down 8.9 percent

Madrid, Dec 22 : A total of 49.5 million foreign visitors arrived in Spain between January and November, placing the drop in tourist arrivals at 8.9 percent for that period, according to government data.

Through October, the decline in international tourist arrivals had been 9.3 percent, while in the high season - July, August and September - the accumulated fall-off was around 10 percent, according to survey results published by the Industry, Tourism and Commerce Ministry Monday.

In November, Spain received 2.8 million foreign tourists, 3.1 percent fewer than in the same month last year but a slight bit better than the drop for the month of October versus that month last year, which had been 3.6 percent.

So far this year, Britain has been the main tourist supplier for Spain's tourism industry, despite the fact that the number of travellers coming from the British Isles fell 15.6 percent to 12.73 million.

Germany, the second-largest tourist supplier, registered a decline of 11.3 percent to 8.5 million.

In contrast, travellers from France increased for the second consecutive month, seeing a 4.3 percent rise in November, although their numbers for the year have also fallen, albeit by only 2.9 percent to 7.5 million.