Record numbers of tourists for Spain despite extremist attacks
MADRID — Spain had a record number of international visitors in 2017 with one in five tourists choosing the restive Catalonia region as their main destination.
Preliminary statistics from the Ministry of Tourism showed Spain had 82 million visitors from other countries last year, an increase of nearly nine per cent from 2016.
The ministry said the annual numbers, the fifth in a row to set a record, let Spain surpass the United States in the volume of incoming tourists to become the world’s second most-visited country after France. About 18 million visitors went to Spain’s northeast Catalonia region, where the killing of 16 people in extremists’ attacks over the summer and a Catalan push for independence in October had raised concerns.