Tourist Arrivals to Spain Drop 13% Because of Volcanic Cloud

Foreign tourist arrivals to Spain were affected last month by European air space being closed for seven days and dropped 13.3 percent compared with April 2009.

The number was provided by the monthly Frontur survey released on Friday.

The decline, “strongly determined” by the cloud of volcanic ash drifting in from Iceland, came after March tourist arrivals surged 3.2 percent, the biggest monthly increase in 22 months.

During April 2010, foreign tourist arrivals to Spain fell to 3.9 million because of flight cancellations that affected above all routes from Britain and Germany, the two main sources of visitors to the Iberian peninsula.

At the same time, tourists from the United States, who were not kept away by the problems in Europe’s air space, showed a year-on-year growth of 4.8 percent in April.

The number of arrivals from France – 733,362 – declined, though to a lesser extent, just 2 percent, as French visitors can easily travel to Spain via road or rail. EFE

via Latin American Herald Tribune – Tourist Arrivals to Spain Drop 13% Because of Volcanic Cloud.