Statistics may be of some interest to the general public. Especially those doing research for an academic project or studying a business proposal should find this collection of statistics useful.
Tourism statistics are often reported in the press in Andalucia. As tourism is such an important industry and part of the economy it is quite common to report these figures. However, an analysis of most statistics reported in the press reveals that there is a tendency to report press releases from government organisations. These tend to highlight the optimistic figures and not to question figures that do not agree with other studies.
In order to help orient the reader we provide a collection of statistics taken from a range of publications and reports by national, regional, provincial and local bodies. They do seem to agree. Just!
Traditionally a tourist is defined as someone who travels for pleasure. This definition is now more complex as people travel for a variety of reasons. The increase in foreign residents who frequently travel abroad and within Spain must be distorting the statistics.
Note. In accordance with World Tourism guidelines foreign tourists are counted as those originating from their country of residence and not by their nationality. This is significant in some areas such as the Costa del Sol where foreign nationals make up a significant proportion of the travelling population.
