The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, for its initials in English) has raised its forecast for tourism expansion in Spain for 2026 to 4.1% from the previously calculated 3.7%. The entity estimates that the sector's contribution to the national economy will exceed 269 billion euros, as announced by its president and CEO, Gloria Guevara, at the VI Convention of Turespaña.
The expected dynamism for Spanish tourist activity will surpass both the anticipated growth of the overall economy of the country (2.7%) and the average of tourism in Europe (3.1%) and in the world (2.5%).
In parallel, the organization projects an 8.1% increase in spending by international travelers traveling for business reasons in 2026, thus reinforcing the weight of the corporate segment in the destination.
These forecasts are supported by the historical maximum reached in 2025, when tourism generated 259 billion euros in the Spanish economy, 15.3% of GDP, and maintained 3.2 million jobs, which is equivalent to one in seven jobs in the country.
In that same year, the spending of international tourists marked a European record of 115.8 billion euros, with 96.8 million arrivals. With these figures, Spain consolidated itself as the second global destination by number of visitors and concentrated 15.6% of international tourism spending across the entire European continent.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Spain has led the most robust tourism recovery in Europe. Spending by international visitors in 2025 was 21% above 2019, far exceeding the average European increase (+2.3%). At the same time, the contribution of tourism and travel to GDP was 19.9% above pre-pandemic levels, significantly surpassing the 6.5% growth recorded across Europe.
These milestones consolidate Spain as one of the most competitive and resilient tourist powers on the planet, and highlight the effectiveness of a long-term strategy based on investment, improved connectivity, and close cooperation between the public and private sectors.
The WTTC sets the roadmap for the future of tourism in Spain
Beyond the good economic outlook, the WTTC points out four key axes to reinforce the tourism competitiveness of Spain in the long term: sustainability, responsible management of destinations, innovation, and talent development.
The organization emphasizes the need to articulate a consensus around the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability, while promoting a more balanced management of destinations through their diversification, the reduction of seasonality, the distribution of visitor flows, and continuous attention to the well-being of residents.
The organization also calls for a decisive push towards digitalization and the adoption of AI throughout the tourism value chain, along with greater investment in capabilities and training of the workforce, especially in SMEs, in order for the travel and tourism sector to maintain its competitiveness in a constantly transforming global environment.
At the European and global level, Guevara focused on the eight strategic priorities of the WTTC, defined together with its members: "safe and hassle-free travel, investment, connectivity, talent and workforce development, sustainable tourism, destination management, adoption of AI, and diversification of source markets." He emphasized that these lines of action are essential to preserve the competitiveness of tourism and ensure its sustained growth over time.