Tourist spending continues to rise in Spain

The Spanish economy has received much needed good news as latest figures showed a jump in spending by foreign tourists in the first four months of the year.

The Tourist Expenditure Survey reported Saturday that foreign visitors to Spain spent 12.627 million euros (18.078 million U.S. dollars) until April, up 8.7 percent over the same period last year.

The figure roughly corresponds to the 8.5-percent increase in the number of foreigners traveling to Spain in the first four months of the year.

Partly due to the Easter holidays celebrated entirely in the month, April was an especially good month for the Spanish tourist industry with a 24-percent increase in total spending. Each visitor left an average of 894 euros (1,280 dollars) in their stay, with an average daily spending of 94 euros (134 dollars).

April's figures also compare very favorably with the same month in 2010, as last year saw air traffic problems and the cancellation of thousands of flights as the result of an ash cloud expelled by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano.

British and German visitors make up a quarter of the total spending, while the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa continues to be the most popular destination with a 17-percent rise in visitor numbers.