Low-season tourism in November showed an increase in spending. | Archive

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Foreign tourist spending in the Balearics was 14,476 million euros over the first eleven months of last year. This represented a 12.3% increase over 2016 and was fractionally below the average national increase of 12.9%. Foreign tourist spending for the country as a whole was 82,293 million euros.

In November, the Balearics registered the highest percentage increase in spending in the country. The actual expenditure, 176 million euros, was up by 24.2% compared with November 2016. This exceeded 21.4% and 14.7% rises in Madrid and the Canaries respectively. Average spending per tourist in November was 900 euros.

For Spain as a whole, the November spend was 4,638 million euros, an increase of just over ten per cent. Average spending per tourist was 1,054 euros.

As ever with these figures, which come from the Egatur survey by the National Statistics Institute, it needs reminding that only some of the spending is directly in the destination. A significant chunk of the figures represents the actual cost of a holiday.

Another point to make, as can be seen from the figures, is that spending in the Balearics in November was under four per cent of the national total, an indication of how much tourism drops off in the low season. In September, for example, the spending in the Balearics was 18.6%, the second highest percentage in the country behind Catalonia's 22.6%.