MADRID, Oct 2 — Much-needed revenues from foreign tourists collapsed in Spain this year as the coronavirus pandemic pushed many holiday makers to stay at home, further weighing down the euro zone’s fourth largest economy.

Usually the world’s second-most visited country after France, Spain had over the past years received some 80 million foreign tourists a year, with much of the revenues over the summer.

However, between January and August, just 15.7 million visited, around 73 per cent fewer than in the same period of 2019, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said.

As a result, over the same period, earnings from tourism fell €47 billion (RM229 billion) year on year to €16.75 billion.

Spending by Britons, usually the biggest contributors, fell around €10 billion to €2.61 billion.

In August alone, usually one of the top months for tourism in Spain, international tourist arrivals fell 76 per cent year-on-year, with spending down 79 per cent. — Reuters