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3 February 2026

Tourist Movements at Borders (FRONTUR)

December 2025 and Year 2025. Provisional data

Main results

  • Spain received 5.3 million international tourists in December, 0.4% more than in the same month of 2024.
  • In the year 2025 as a whole, the number of tourists peaked, reaching an all-time high in its historical series of 96.8 million.

More information

Spain received 5.3 million international tourists, 0.4% more than in the same month in 2024.

International tourists arrivals by months

Annual variation. Percentage

The United Kingdom was the main country of residence, with over 900,208 million tourists and an increase of 0.1% compared to December 2024. 707,513 tourists came from France (8.4% fewer) and 596,042 from Germany (4.4% fewer).

International tourists arrivals (*) by country of residence. December 2025

(*) Does not include transit travellers or same-day visitors (excursionists).
(**) Includes the estimate for Russia.

Main type of accommodation and other characteristics of the trips

The number of tourists who chose market accommodation as their main type of accommodation increased by 3.6% in annual terms. Within this type, hotel accommodation grew by 7.3%, while rented dwellings fell by 9.3%. Non-market accommodation went down by 8.9%.

International tourist arrivals by type of accommodation. December 2025

Tourists mostly stayed for four to seven nights, totalling nearly 2.4 million and an annual decrease of 1.4%. The number of visitors decreased by 0.4% among non-overnight visitors (day-trippers) and by 2.7% among tourists with a longer duration (more than 15 nights).

Almost 4.3 million tourists travelled without a package tour in December, an increase of 1.2%. Over one million travellers arrived with package tours, a fall of 2.9%.

Autonomous communities of main destination

Canarias was the main tourist destination in December, with 27.4% of the total. It was followed by Cataluña (18.7%) and Comunitat Valenciana (13.3%).

Canarias saw 0.1% fewer tourists than in December 2024, and Cataluña saw 7.3% fewer. On the other hand, Comunitat Valenciana saw a 5.6% increase in arrivals.

International tourist arrivals by main Autonomous Community of destination. Monthly and cumulative data. December 2025

Results for the whole of 2025

In 2025, a total of 96.8 million tourists visited Spain, representing a new record high and an increase of 3.2% compared with the previous year.

International tourist arrivals by year

Millions

The main countries of residence of the tourists who visited Spain in 2025 were the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Arrivals of tourists resident in the United Kingdom rose by 3.7%, those from France fell by 1.0% and those from Germany increased by 0.6%.

International tourist arrivals by country of residence. 2025

Millions

Cataluña was the autonomous community which received the most tourists in 2025, followed by Illes Balears and Canarias.

Cataluña was visited by nearly 20.1 million tourists (0.6% more than in 2024), Illes Balears by 15.7 million (2.6% more) and Canarias by 15.7 million (3.0% more).

International tourist arrivals by main Autonomous Community of destination in the year 2025

Millions

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are provisional and will be revised in March next year. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

Methodological note

The main objective of the Tourist Movement on Borders Survey (FRONTUR) is to estimate the number of non-residents visiting Spain on a monthly basis, as well as to know the main characteristics of the trips made by these visitors. The international definitions and recommendations of the UN Tourism and EUROSTAT in this field are followed when preparing the FRONTUR.

Type of operation:
continuous monthly statistics.
Population scope:
this refers to non-residents in Spain who enter our country, whether or not they have stayed overnight, as well as those who pass through our country in transit.
Geographical scope:
the entire national territory. The sample is collected at the main access points for non-resident travellers, by road, airport, port and rail.
Reference period of the results:
the month.
Sample size:
the annual theoretical sample size of FRONTUR exceeds 450,000 surveys, which are distributed throughout the year, taking into account the seasonality of passenger flows.
Sampling type:
strata have been defined for each form of entry that group together border points, airports, ports and railway lines. In determining the road and airport sample, the day of the week in which the survey has been carried out is also identified, differentiating between working days, weekends and holidays. In airports, 21 air relations are defined (Spanish airport of origin-country of destination airport).
Collection method:
information is collected by direct interview when the traveller leaves Spain, using a multilingual electronic questionnaire.

For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.

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