From January to September 2011, Spain welcomed in excess of eleven million UK tourist arrivals, a cumulative increase of 9.2% year on year, making it one of the best years ever for UK tourism to Spain.

According to Worldwide Timeshare Hypermarket, the UK continues to be Spain's most important tourism market cumulatively capturing the largest share (24.3%) of all international arrivals, followed by Germany (15.8%) and France (15.4%).

Broken down by period, during the month of April, Spain attracted well over 1.1 million UK tourists, a 42% increase year on year. This is attributed in part to the 2010 ash cloud which for 2010 caused a slump in visitor numbers ahead of the busy summer period. Despite this year on year anomaly, from June to September 2011, Spain welcomed more than 6, 7 million British tourists compared to 6, 2 million for the same period last year, representing an increase of 8.1%. For September alone, British tourist arrivals were up 11.4% year or year, further strengthening Spain's tourism position.

Broken down by region, for the period January to September 2011 the Spanish Islands captured the highest percentage of all UK tourist arrivals with the Balearic Islands attracting almost a quarter of all UK arrivals (24.3%), followed closely by the Canaries (23.7%). For mainland Spain, the southern region of Andalucia pulled in the most British tourists (18, 4%) whilst the region of Valencia also proved popular (attracting 15.9%). For the same period in 2010, these regions followed an identical pattern but with the Canary Islands proving more popular for the later winter months (October, November and December).

As a percentage of all tourism arrivals to Spain, the Balearics also came out trumps but with Cataluna proving more popular than both Andalucia and the Canary Islands emphasising a particular affinity amongst British guests with the Canary Islands and Andalucia.

Broken down by types of accommodation, from January to September 2011, the majority of UK tourist arrivals opted for hotel accommodation or similar (61.2%), a similar percentage to that of 2010 (60.7%).

Just over a third of UK visitors to Spain (35.5%) opted for a package holiday, a slight increase year on year. For 2010, the package holiday market represented slightly less than a third (31.6%). This is partly attributed to the increase of tour operation activity to Spain throughout summer 2011. Nevertheless, independent tourism to Spain continues to be the main driver of growth.

In terms of visitor motives, for 2011 the leisure and holiday market captured 93% of all British tourism arrivals (in line with 2010), with just 3.9% citing work and business as their main motive for travel (3.6% for the same period in 2010).

The international tourist expenditure from January to September 2011 also registered an increase of 2.8% year on year accounting for over 42 million euros. Despite this, for UK visitors alone, the average spend per day dropped by 2.5%, attributed in part to the current economical environment, prompting holidaymakers to curb their expenditure. Nevertheless UK visitors continue to generate the most tourism expenditure in Spain, accounting for 20.2% of the total, followed by the Germany (16.3%) and France (10.6%).