Basque Country Tourism Up 14%
August 24th, 2006
It is the third community in Spain with a bigger increase of entries of foreign visitors. Nearly 550,000 foreign tourists have visited the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country during the first seven months of 2006, an increase of 14.2% with regard to the same period of time the previous year.
According to data by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, the A.C. of the Basque Country is the ninth community with most entries by foreign visitors.
The Basque Country only registered 1.7% of the total amount of foreign visitors in Spain, but the increase exceeds the Spanish average, 5.3%. This places the Basque Country in the third place with a biggest increase in foreign visits, only exceeded by Madrid and Castilla y León.
A total amount of 164,968 foreign visitors came to the Basque Country in July 2006, an increase of 12% compared to July 2005, according to data by the Basque Statistics Office Eustat. This places the Basque Country in the ninth place of the entries of foreign visitors, receiving 2.1% of the total amount of foreign visits.
Visitor entries increased in all three provinces in the A.C. of the Basque Country: Alava (17%), Bizkaia (16%) and Gipuzkoa (7%).
Among foreign visitors, the numbers coming from France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Portugal, USA-Canada and Latin America all rose, and there were fewer visitors registered coming from Finland, Ireland and Sweden among others.
Among Spanish visitors there was an increase from almost every Autonomous Community, particularly from Madrid, Castilla-León, Andalucía, Cantabria and Asturias.
