MADRID – Spain keeps on breaking tourism records, with the number of tourists visiting the European Union nation up 12 percent in the first six months of the year.
Spain has broken its own tourist number records each year for the past four years as economic and security concerns elsewhere lure visitors away from rival Mediterranean destinations.
The National Statistics Institute said Monday that 36.3 million tourists arrived January through June. Most — 8.6 million — came from Britain, an increase of 9.1 percent over the same period last year. German visitors were in second place, up 10 percent at 5.5 million.
The government said 75.3 million tourists visited Spain in 2016.
Tourism represents some 11 percent of Spain’s 1.2 trillion euro ($1.41 trillion) gross domestic product.
