According to the Spanish Association of Digital Economy (Adigital) and technology consultant The Cocktail Analysis, Spanish digital tourists have resumed international travel to pre-pandemic levels, despite being 21% more expensive than domestic travel.

The Spanish Association of Digital Economy (Adigital) and the technology consultancy The Cocktail Analysis presented the study 'Evolution of the Spanish digital traveler (2019-2022)', an evolutionary analysis through the main indicators of digital travellers to find and exploit changes in habits caused by Covid-19.

The study shows, among many other aspects, that Portugal is the leader in online bookings for Spaniards when travelling abroad; that within Spain, Benidorm and Salou are the most booked destinations; that Brexit has significantly affected the decline in UK travel; that Spanish digital travellers have regained the weight of bookings abroad after the pandemic, despite the average cost of a trip abroad being 21% higher than that of a trip within Spain, according to Publituris.

No loss in confidence

Spanish digital tourists already travel as much outside the country as they did before the pandemic. During the phase of restrictions related to Covid-19 (2020), the level of reservations in the traveller's continent of origin registered a significant peak, reaching the point where nine out of 10 reservations are made in Spain. But in the years 2021 and 2022 the tourist market stabilized again, dividing destinations in Spain and outside Spain 80/20, “which means that there is no loss of confidence regarding foreign tourism”, indicates the study.

Although Europe continues to be the most popular destination for Spanish digital tourists when traveling abroad (66%), there is still a certain transfer of online tourists to distant Spanish-speaking destinations, such as Central America and the Caribbean, which, although they are still secondary destinations, they manage to double their share, from 5% in 2019 to 11% in 2022. There is also growth in destinations in the Middle East and North Africa (from 4% to 6%), despite the instability policy of some of these markets.

In recent years, especially during the pandemic, the countries closest to Spain (such as Portugal, Italy, Andorra and France) have received the highest number of Spanish bookings.