International business tourism since the pandemic

The main reason why foreigners visit Spain is for holidays and leisure. In 2024, 81 million foreign tourists visited our country for this reason (the so-called holiday and leisure tourist), around 8 million more than in 2019. However, the group that has grown the most is that of tourists travelling for «other reasons», surging by over 40% compared to 2019 (2.4 million additional visits in 2024). This category includes trips ranging from visits to see family and friends, to studies, to medical treatments or even religious pilgrimages, among others. While this category still accounts for a much smaller portion of the total compared to leisure and recreation, it now represents 8.2% of arrivals into our country, 2 points more than in 2019.

Finally, arrivals for business and professional reasons – the so-called business tourist – are the only ones that have not yet recovered their pre-pandemic levels: there is a gap of around 240,000 arrivals compared to the levels of 2019 and, moreover, this is the category showing the least growth (5.7% in 2024 versus 11% for leisure reasons and 21% for other reasons). Among the main source countries for business tourists, the biggest declines are found in arrivals of Portuguese, Belgian and British tourists, among others, while the only notable increase is in visits from the US.

Post-pandemic labour trends – with the significant rise of teleworking, the exponential use of tools that facilitate virtual meetings and cuts in travel expenses by companies – explain the decline in international tourists travelling to attend meetings in other countries, which generally entail shorter stays. In fact, visits by business tourists lasting less than three days have fallen by 16% between 2019 and 2024.

In any case, business tourism accounted for 6.0% of all arrivals in the period 2016-2019, and this figure has fallen to 5.4% in 2024. In this regard, this business segment has room for improvement in the medium and long term, and this could be an additional reason for tourist arrivals in the coming years. The recovery of this segment is particularly important for Spain’s tourism sector. Firstly, this is because these tourists spend more than average: in 2024, they spent around 1,400 euros per tourist (100 euros more than the average holiday tourist) and around 240 euros per day (50 euros more per day than the average tourist). In 2024, revenues associated with business travel amounted to 7.126 billion euros. Secondly, this group is especially important for our hotel sector: in 2024, 86% of business tourists stayed in a hotel in our country, compared to 68% of holiday tourists and 33% among those visiting for other reasons.