MADRID (AP) — Spain set a new tourism record in 2025 when it welcomed 96.8 million foreign visitors, according to figures released Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute.

The number of international visitors increased 3.2% compared to 2024, when there were 94 million tourists.

Spain is one of the world’s most popular destinations, where tourism accounts for 12.6% of gross domestic product. It ranks third on the U.N. World Tourism Barometer’s list of the world’s top tourism earners, after the United Kingdom and France.

The income from foreign visitors rose 6.8% to 134.7 billion euros ($158.9 billion) last year, compared with 126 billion euros in 2024, the Ministry of Tourism said.

The increase in the number of tourists and their spending meet the objective of transforming “the tourism model into one that is more sustainable and based on prioritizing quality over quantity,” the ministry said in a statement.

Catalonia, the northeastern region where Barcelona is located, attracted around 20.1 million tourists, 0.6% more than in 2024. It was followed by the Mediterranean islands and the Canary Islands, a flagship of the sun and beach tourism for which Spain is known.

Most travelers came from the U.K. (19 million), France (12.7 million) and Germany (12 million).

It was Spain’s third record-breaking year since 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed international leisure travel.

As tourism rebounded globally, it put pressure on accommodation in Spain, particularly in city centers where short-term rentals have proliferated, causing friction at times with locals, many of whom feel priced out of the housing and rental market due to mass tourism.

Last year set a new record for international tourist arrivals in the post-pandemic era: an estimated 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded worldwide, an increase of almost 60 million than in 2024, according to the U.N. barometer.

Teresa Medrano, The Associated Press