Madrid, Jul 23 (Prensa Latina) Spain received 29.2 million tourists in the first half of the year, 1.2 million more than in the same period of 2014, which represents an increase of 4.2 percent, reported the Ministry of Tourism.
According to the survey of Movimientos Turísticos en frontera (Frontur), this is the best semester of the historical series.

The United Kingdom was ratified as prime issuer of the period, with 6.7 million tourists (2.6 percent increase), ahead of Germany with 4.7 million (1.6 percent increase) and France, with 4.6 million (7.5 percent increase).

The main rise were registered by the United States, with an increase of 15.7 percent to reach 661,612 tourists; Switzerland, with 9.7 percent (755,950); Belgium, with 7.8 percent (974,398); Ireland, with 7.4 percent (624,761), and Italy with 7.3 percent (1.6 million).

On the other hand the number of visitors from Russia and the Nordic countries dropped in 35.7 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.

Catalonia was the favorite destiny with 7.4 million tourists, followed by Madrid with 2.5 million visitors, which also recorded the highest growth in the country of about 8.2 percent.

Hotel accommodation accounted for 65.1 percent of the total to nearly 19 million tourists and an increase of two percent, while the non-hotel sector received 10.2 million tourists (34.9 percent) and increased 8.7 percent.

Of the total, 20.6 million tourists traveled without travel package, equivalent to 70.7 percent for an increase of 7.8 percent, while visitors through tour operators reached 29.3 percent, 3.4 percent less than the same period last year.