Spain Foreign Tourist Numbers Break Record in Early 2025

FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
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Spain Foreign Tourist Numbers Break Record in Early 2025

FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists tour along the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) on a hot summer day in Ronda, Spain July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

Spain welcomed a record 17 million foreign tourists in the first three months of 2025 as the buoyant sector drives an economy outshining European peers, official data showed on Monday.

The 17.1 million foreign tourists arriving in Spain from January to March was a 5.7-percent increase on the same period in 2024, the National Statistics Institute said.

Britain, France and Germany supplied the most holidaymakers to the world's second most-visited country, which last year hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists seeking its sun, beaches and culture, AFP reported.

Spending by foreign tourists also climbed 7.2 percent to 23.5 billion euros ($26.7 billion), the tourism ministry said in a statement, a welcome development for the government which wants visitors to splash more cash during their stay.

The tourist sector was one of the drivers of Spain's standout growth of 3.2 percent in 2024, well above the EU figure of one percent.

But the bonanza has sparked a growing backlash among locals who complain that an unsustainable influx of foreign visitors is driving up rents, saturating infrastructure and changing the fabric of neighborhoods.

Spain aims to "diversify" destinations, make the sector less dependent on key seasons and "share out the benefits" across the country, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu said in a statement.



An Uncontrolled Wildfire Sends a Cloud of Smoke over Spain’s Capital

 A firefighting plane drops water during efforts to extinguish a wildfire near Navalcarnero, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (A. Pérez Meca/Europa Press via AP)
A firefighting plane drops water during efforts to extinguish a wildfire near Navalcarnero, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (A. Pérez Meca/Europa Press via AP)
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An Uncontrolled Wildfire Sends a Cloud of Smoke over Spain’s Capital

 A firefighting plane drops water during efforts to extinguish a wildfire near Navalcarnero, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (A. Pérez Meca/Europa Press via AP)
A firefighting plane drops water during efforts to extinguish a wildfire near Navalcarnero, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (A. Pérez Meca/Europa Press via AP)

An uncontrolled wildfire burned outside Madrid on Thursday, sending a giant cloud of smoke over the Spanish capital.

The fire broke out in the town of Mentrida in central Spain's Castile-La Mancha region about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the capital. Local authorities urged residents to stay home and close their windows.

Spanish authorities said the blaze had burned around 3,000 hectares (roughly 7,400 acres) by the late evening.

Firefighters deployed on the ground and in the air were working to extinguish the fire that began around 3 pm.

Wind blew the smoke over Madrid, where in the afternoon skies turned orange and thick with smoke.

Large parts of Spain are under heat and fire warnings, with temperatures on Thursday reaching 37 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in Madrid.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, which makes places more vulnerable to wildfires.