Alexander Shishlo
Correspondent in Benelux 
In 2024 the total number of foreign tourists visiting European countries will for the first time exceed the level of precovid 2019, according to the latest report of the European Travel Commission, ETC.
In 2023 Europe, which is the most visited region in the world, reached 94% of the level in 2019 due to the tourist activity of Europeans themselves and the influx of travelers from the United States of America.
According to the experts of the Brussels-based international non-profit association, which represents the national tourism organizations of Europe, by the end of this year, travelers from abroad will spend a total of about 800 billion euro in the countries of the Old World. This is 37% higher than in 2019, when tourist spending reached 583 billion euro.
ETC notes that in a situation, where GDP is falling in the states of the European Union, the region is becoming an increasingly cheap vacation destination for US citizens. Thanks to the improvement in the standard of living in their country, Americans are now coming to Europe en masse, making a very significant contribution to the restoration of the tourism industry on the continent.
Tourists from the USA are especially active in Portugal, Lithuania, Turkey, Latvia, Serbia, Poland, Sweden and Greece. Portugal ranks first in popularity among Americans. The number of US citizens arriving in this European country has doubled compared to 2019. To date, the influx of tourists from the United States to Portugal is the most massive.
Tourists from Asia are simultaneously celebrating the return to Europe, although its scale is insignificant compared to 2019.
As for travelers from China, in most European countries, the number of their arrivals decreased relative to the previous year, with the exception of Serbia, Montenegro and Spain.
In the case of Spain, this is due to the resumption of direct flights to China, the number of which has reached 60% of the dock level.
The situation is similar with tourists from Japan, who exceeded the 2019 figures in terms of attendance only in relation to three countries - Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey.
In general, the number of foreign tourists in Europe increased by 6% in the second quarter of 2024. At the same time, a new trend has been noted: international travelers are opting for less developed tourist destinations.
In the period from 2019 to 2024 the number of tourist overnight stays in Albania increased by 86%, in Serbia by 48%, in Montenegro by 31%, in Portugal by 26% and in Greece by 22%. And this is against the background of a decrease by 15% in France, by 12% in the United Kingdom and by 9% in Italy.
"Tourists are spreading out to more destinations, which is good news for places that suffer from over-tourism, such as Mallorca, Venice or Amsterdam," the ETC report notes.
At the same time, this year Spain and Greece (+25%) became the European countries with the largest increase in spending by international tourists, followed by Italy (+20%) and France (+16%).
It is noteworthy that this year the second most visited country in the world after France Spain has become. The country is expected to welcome a record number of travelers from abroad this summer.
According to the estimates of the Turespaña, 41 million foreign tourists will visit Spain only at the end of the summer season. This is 13% higher than in the summer of 2023, when the previous record was set. At the same time, it is expected that tourism revenues will grow by 22% and reach 59 billion euro.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, 85.1 million visitors from abroad visited Spain last year, mainly from the UK, France and Germany. Given the current dynamics, it is expected that this record figure will be significantly surpassed in 2024. According to Caixabank economists, Spain can accept more than 90 million foreign tourists, in particular, due to the high safety rating of their resorts against the background of growing international tensions.
The Exceltur employers' organization, for its part, predicts a 4.6% increase in tourism revenues in 2024 due to increased summer attendance in the Basque Country (+ 8.3%), Andalusia (+7.4%) and Madrid (+ 11.5%).
If the forecasts are confirmed, the contribution of tourism to Spain's GDP by the end of 2024 will for the first time exceed 200 billion euro and will increase its share to 13.2%, Exceltur expects.