Spain Set for Record Tourist Numbers in 2024 after First-Half Jump

FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
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Spain Set for Record Tourist Numbers in 2024 after First-Half Jump

FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo

The number of foreign tourists in Spain jumped 13% in the first-half of 2024, putting the country on track for another record year for visitor numbers despite growing discontent over the impact of the holiday industry in some tourist hotspots.
For the six months to the end of June, 42.5 million international visitors arrived in Spain, with the month of June alone recording a 12% rise to 9 million as the busier summer period picks up, Spain's data agency INE reported on Friday.
That means 2024 is shaping up to be another record year for Spain, already the world's second most visited country behind France, making it likely it will beat last year's high of 85 million tourists, when numbers exceeded pre-pandemic levels, said Reuters.
But for some Spaniards in the most popular destinations including Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, there is increasing unease about the influx of tourists and their impact on housing costs and locals have staged protests.
Earlier in July, a small group of anti-tourism campaigners in Barcelona squirted water pistols at foreign visitors, chanting "tourists go home", a demonstration that created headlines around the world.
Data showed that tourists spent 12.3 billion euros in Spain in June, 17% more than the same month last year, helping drive economic growth, but highlighting the challenge for a government trying to find the right balance between tourism and local interests.
A lack of affordable housing in Spain has been partly blamed on a boom in holiday lets on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com.
According to the data released on Friday, tourists are increasingly opting to stay in rented apartments. The number of visitors in the first-half of the year staying in that type of accommodation was up 30%, while those staying in hotels was up 11%.



Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)

The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer "hot intel" on "late-night activity spikes" at the US military headquarters.

"As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity," the account "Pentagon Pizza Report" posted on Thursday.

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory "is not something the internet just made up," The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are "a multitude of fast-food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places."

Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989 and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. "We know what's going on."

For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen.

Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday.

And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: "At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!'"