Tourism experts in Spain are claiming that that 2007 has been an unprecedented year for visits to Spain.

Spanish tourism officials have identified a likely total of 60 million visitors by the end of the year, making 2007 a bumper year in the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca and other leading holiday locations.

A two per cent increase on year-on-year arrivals has been registered for first ten months of the year, with 52 million visitors having already passed through by the end of October, and the number likely to hit 60 million by the year’s end.

But despite the success of 2007, Iberian tourism targets are even higher for the future, with a new plan entitled Turismo Horizonte 2020 envisaging new strategies to keep Spain as a top holiday location.

The new strategy envisages marketing new lesser-known areas to foreign visitors – with areas like the Costa Azahar likely to gain more exposure – while the tourism season will also be extended to keep visitors coming through the year.

A key market from which Spain could see future growth is American tourism, with visitors from the US up 21.6 per cent so far this year.

Tags: Spain, tourism