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Palma.—The amount of money spent by foreign tourists during April in the Balearics rose by 35.6 percent to 532 million and the outgoing Balearic Minister for Tourism, Joana Barcelo, claimed yesterday the growth continues, tourism spending could meet or even break the record spending figures registered in 2008.

Barcelo welcomed the latest figures as “good news” and explained that since last year, the industry has noticed a gradual increase in spending but not of the kind witnessed last month.

The average spend by foreign holiday makers in the Balearics, 866 euros per tourist, was three points above the national average, and, according to data supplied by the Ministry for Tourism, Commerce and Industry in Madrid, the average daily spend in the region was 106 euros, an increase of seven percent.

It was, however, the Canaries that enjoyed the largest surge in spending where the average spend was 894 euros, an increase of 36.1 percent.
But, during the first four months of the year, foreign tourists spent 980 million euros in the Balearics, nearly seven percent more than during the same period last year.

The Minister for Tourism said that the figures clearly indicate that there is a definite increase in foreign visitors coming to the Balearics “and this is going to enable the Balearic tourist industry to consolidate and grow,” Barcelo added.

Easter
Obviously, one of the most influential factors last month was that Easter fell late this year and escaped the affects of the volcanic ash cloud which caused complete chaos to travel in April of 2010.

According to the figures, there has also been a slight increase in the domestic tourist market but, Spanish tour operators are having to fight for rooms because the UK and German markets have increased capacity to meet demand.