Data from the National Statistics Institute has revealed that the number of foreign tourists that visited Spain fell by 75% year-on-year in July as the coronavirus pandemic shaved tens of billions of euros off of the nation's usual income from the sector.
Spain, which usually the world's second-most visited country after France with some 80 million visitors a year, welcomed just 2.5 million foreigners in the normally brisk holiday month of July, the National Statistics Institute said.
Foreign holidaymakers spent €14.29 billion in Spain in the year to July, which was 73% below the €52.36 billion that they had spent by that point last year.
Plunging custom for hotels, bars and other services enjoyed by tourists has contributed to ravaging an economy of which tourism usually makes up approximately 12%, as virus cases climbed past 460,000.
The Spanish government said this week that it expects a more than 10% rebound in the third quarter of the year after an 18.5% contraction in the second quarter.
Biggest Markets
UK residents remained the biggest group that visited Spain during the first seven months, despite a 77% year-on-year decrease in their numbers. In July, when London imposed a quarantine on people returning from Spain, France was the biggest market.
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