Spain has once again cemented its reputation as one of the world’s premier travel destinations, smashing summer tourism records in 2025 while igniting debate about the costs and benefits of its ever-expanding influx of foreign visitors. According to data released on October 3, 2025, by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), a staggering 22.3 million international tourists arrived during the key summer months of July and August, surpassing the previous record of 21.8 million set just a year earlier. This surge, driven largely by British, French, and German holidaymakers, highlights both the economic might and the mounting challenges of Spain’s tourism sector.
August 2025 alone saw 11.3 million international arrivals—a 2.9% increase over August 2024 and a new monthly high—while July brought in 11 million visitors, up 1.6% year-on-year. These figures are not just impressive on their own; they’re part of an even bigger story. Between January and August 2025, Spain welcomed nearly 66.8 million foreign tourists, representing a 3.9% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Last year, Spain hosted a record 94 million foreign visitors, making it the world’s second most visited country after France. But if current trends hold, Spain is on track to close out 2025 with about 97 million international visitors—just shy of the symbolic 100 million mark, as reported by Idealista News.
The United Kingdom remains Spain’s leading source of tourists, with nearly 13.2 million Brits visiting between January and August 2025. France follows with almost 9.2 million, and Germany with over 8.2 million. These three countries account for the lion’s share of arrivals, and their travel habits are closely watched by Spain’s tourism industry. In July, the Balearic Islands attracted the largest share of international arrivals at 23.3%, ahead of Catalonia at 21.3% and Andalusia at 14%. Over the first seven months of 2025, Catalonia led all regions with 11.6 million arrivals, followed by the Canary Islands with 9.1 million and the Balearic Islands with 9.0 million.
What’s more, tourists aren’t just coming in greater numbers—they’re spending more, too. In July 2025, international visitors spent a record EUR 16.39 billion, a 6.7% increase year-on-year. The average daily spend per traveler rose to EUR 198, suggesting that Spain’s appeal is not only broadening but deepening. As reported by Idealista News, this uptick in spending is partly due to evolving travel patterns, with more visitors choosing to travel outside the traditional summer peak. There’s a noticeable shift toward the so-called "shoulder seasons," with holidays extending further into September and autumn. Among Spanish residents, too, travel is on the rise, with a 2.9% increase in domestic trips during the second quarter of 2025, totaling 46.4 million journeys—Andalusia, Catalonia, and the Valencian Community being the most popular destinations.
But not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat. The record-breaking influx has sparked a growing backlash in Spain’s most popular destinations, with locals voicing concerns about overtourism’s impact on their neighborhoods and daily lives. Protests have erupted in Barcelona, Malaga, and the Balearic and Canary Islands, with residents arguing that the relentless tide of tourists is driving up rents and changing the character of their communities. According to the National Statistics Institute, "locals say the influx of visitors is changing the fabric of their neighborhoods and driving up rents as properties are converted into lucrative tourist accommodation." The tension came to a head on World Tourism Day in Barcelona, where demonstrators called for urgent action to address the pressures of overtourism.
In response, authorities across Spain are tightening regulations in an effort to rebalance the needs of residents and the tourism industry. Andalusia has announced the creation of a dedicated police force to crack down on illegal tourist accommodations, a move aimed at ensuring that short-term rentals comply with local laws. Malaga has gone a step further, suspending the issuance of new tourist accommodation licenses altogether. Perhaps most dramatically, Barcelona plans to phase out tourist apartments entirely by 2028, a policy that could reshape the city’s lodging landscape. These measures are accompanied by stronger enforcement of tourist taxes and stricter rules around short-term rentals, particularly in saturated districts. As Idealista News notes, "the direction is clearer enforcement in saturated districts through initiatives such as tourist tax in various Spanish cities and a stronger push to spread trips into the shoulder seasons."
Travelers should brace for more crowd-management measures and, in some cases, higher local levies in the coming year. In major cities and resort areas, authorities are expected to continue tightening the screws on short-term rental rules, which may affect the availability of accommodations for visitors as well as locals hoping to host friends and family. For those seeking a quieter, more affordable experience, experts recommend planning trips outside the peak summer weeks, as popular resort areas continue to see price pressure and limited availability during high season.
Despite these challenges, the outlook for Spain’s tourism sector remains robust. Airlines and hospitality providers are maintaining high capacity and pricing in response to sustained demand, especially from the UK, France, and Germany. The strength of the shoulder seasons is expected to carry into late 2025, with travel volumes likely to remain strong even as the year draws to a close. As the sector adapts to new realities—shifting visitor habits, tighter regulations, and the ongoing balancing act between economic growth and quality of life for locals—Spain’s place at the top of the European tourism league table seems secure, at least for now.
Tourism continues to be a vital pillar of Spain’s economy, which grew by 3.5% in 2024 following a recent upward revision. The sector’s dynamism has helped Spain weather global economic uncertainty, but it has also forced a reckoning with the social and environmental costs of success. As Spain approaches another record-setting year, the conversation is shifting from how many visitors it can attract to how it can manage them sustainably, ensuring that the benefits of tourism are shared by all and that the country’s unique character is preserved for generations to come.
With the summer of 2025 now in the rearview mirror, Spain stands at a crossroads: celebrate its status as a tourism powerhouse, or recalibrate to ensure that the very qualities that draw millions each year are not lost to the pressures of their own popularity.
