Spain holidays: British tourists reclaim number one spot from French in Spain

First class travel: How do people get upgraded?

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Spain is one of the UK’s top tourist destinations. The most popular hotspots include the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and the Balearics.

According to data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) 2.4 million international tourists travelled to Spain in January 2022.

That was six times more than the same time last year although two million below pre-pandemic numbers.

Over 360,000 tourists were from the UK leading British visitors to reclaim the top spot from French tourists.

Almost a third of international tourists in Spain in January travelled to the beautiful Canary Islands.

Catalonia, where Barcelona is located, and Andalucia, the Costa del Sol region, were the second and third top regions.

Just under 20 percent of tourists visited Catalonia while 13 percent travelled to the Andalucia region.

Despite this, tourist numbers are still down on pre-pandemic levels in Spain. Some areas have launched campaigns to encourage tourists to return.

A campaign launched by the Canary Islands is aimed at British teenagers who can now travel there regardless of vaccination status.

British teenagers aged between 12-17 who are unvaccinated can travel to Spain with a negative PCR test from the last 72 hours.

Unvaccinated British adults can only travel to Spain if they have a recent recovery certificate from Covid.

The Canary Islands are one of Spain’s top winter tourist destinations with many Britons travelling to Tenerife,Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

The islands recently lifted some Covid restrictions and extended opening hours for bars and restaurants.

However, although nightclubs are open, dancing remains forbidden on the islands for the time being.

Currently, British tourists must wear a mask indoors in Spain, as well as on all public transport.

The Spanish Government has said it wants to ditch masks sooner rather than later but has yet to announce a date.

It said it would follow the science when it comes to relaxing restrictions on mandatory mask wearing.

Several major airlines including Jet2 and Ryanair ditched mandatory mask wearing last week.

According to easyjet data, over 30 percent of British people want to travel to Spain for a holiday this year.

Many tourist regions are eager to welcome Brtions after suffering thousands of cancellations in winter.

Benidorm was hit by cancellations after Spain introduced tighter rules on vaccination for British tourists.

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