The Spanish tourism industry maintains its growth forecasts for this year, and the latest available data confirm its strength.

Thus, in addition to the figures for tourist arrivals and the increase in spending last February, Aena's forecasts for next summer's flight schedules now predict significant growth in the industry.

In this regard, according to information gathered by Aena from the airlines operating at its airports, the number of seats scheduled for the summer season will increase by 7.9% compared to those recorded in the same period in 2023, and landings and take-offs will grow by 7.7%.

The airlines have offered a total of 243 million seats for the coming holiday season, with around 1.4 million commercial operations, including departures and arrivals. The summer season started on 31 March and will end on Saturday 26 October.

Foreign visitors
Although the figure may change, Aena data indicate that the European market will grow by 10.1% compared to the previous summer season, while the domestic market will grow by 2.8%. Italy, with 22% more seats, the United Kingdom, with 8.3% more, and Germany, with 5.9% more, are the countries that will increase the number of scheduled seats the most.

Most of the seats are distributed among the following airports: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with 48.2 million (6.8% more than in 2023), Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 42.2 million (+11%), Palma de Mallorca, with 33.2 million (+8.3%), Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 20 million (+10.9%); Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 14.2 million (+13.1%), Gran Canaria, with 9.8 million (+11.6%) and Ibiza, with 9.8 million (+4%).

Incentives for airlines
Aena, which has not yet released data on scheduled operations at Spain's 32 airports and heliports, has announced that its Board of Directors has approved a big three-year incentive plan for airlines using these regional facilities.

Airlines using any of these 32 airports for their operations will only have to pay the charges levied per passenger until the 2023 figure is reached. All travellers in excess of this figure will not incur extra costs for airlines until March 2027. The incentives will apply to the fares approved for 2024, which have increased by 4.09% to 40 euro cents per passenger on average across Spain. Despite the increase, they are still lower than in 2019.

^{Photo: Aena}