American tourists in Spain: What are they like and where do they go?

Spain has been seeing a big growth in tourists from the United States over the last few years, but what is the typical profile of the American holidaymaker in Spain and where are the most popular destinations for them?

According to the Spanish Tourism Office (Turespaña), 4.3 million American tourists visited Spain in 2024.

This is largely thanks to Spain’s ranking as the second-most visited country in the world, as well as the increase in flight connections between Spain and the US.

This year alone there have been new routes between Bilbao and New York, Barcelona and Boston and Madrid to Boston.

LISTED: The new flights to and from Spain this summer

Turespaña’s Tourism Intelligence System found that Chinese and American travellers are showing a strong interest in visiting Spain, especially due to its cultural and culinary offerings.

Even though according to CaixaBank Research there has been a slight downturn in American tourists this summer due to the weaker dollar and global economic instability caused by President Donald Trump's trade policy, Spain remains a popular destination for them.

Magí Castelltort, Spain's Tourism Advisor for New York, described the typical American tourist visiting Spain as a 46 year old who has an average annual income of $131,000.

"They prefer to stay in high-end hotels affiliated with chains and resorts; they like to plan their vacations, and most have a clear idea of their destination before making their plans” he added.

Spain is also seen as an attractive LGBTQ+ destination for travellers from the States, with 90 percent of those surveyed expressing interest in visiting Spain in the next three years.

Most of the American tourists interested in visiting Spain comes from a total of five states including California (13 percent of the total), Texas (10 percent), Florida and New York (7 percent each) and Illinois (5 percent).

Several of these states have large Spanish-speaking populations, which goes some way to explain why Spain is so popular with them.

For California, Texas, and New York, the age group most interested in travelling to Spain are millennials, while in Florida and Illinois, the tourists most eager to visit our country are boomers.

American tourists are also one of the highest spenders in Spain, splurging an average of €2,024 per person per trip, compared with the average tourist from other countries who spend €1,277 each. They tend to tip a lot more generously than other Europeans as well.

Where do American tourists go in Spain?

While most European tourists visit Spain for the beaches and tend to prefer the costas and the islands, Americans visit big cities instead for more cultural breaks.

For beaches, they tend to head to places nearer in the US, Mexico or the Caribbean.

Interestingly, when it comes to moving to Spain, US nationals also tend to favour the big cities over the usual spots on the coast with largely foreign populations.

Barcelona is the most visited city by American tourists. This year, 440,000 visited the Catalan capital between June and September and nearly 330,000 visited Madrid. These were by far their two favourite cities, eight times more visited than the next largest cities on the list which was Valencia with just over 40,000.

The next most popular spots were taken by Palma in Mallorca with 39,000, and then Seville with 38,000.

The other five tourist spots with the most American visitors barely exceed 20,000 visitors and are all on the coast or important cultural places. The most popular beach destinations are Sant Josep de sa Talaia in Ibiza, San Sebastián in the Basque Country, and Málaga and Algeciras Andalusia.

In Rota in the southern province of Cádiz, more than 45 percent of the tourists are Americans, but this is likely due to the presence of the US naval base there, and the visiting family members of US marines.

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