The Spanish outbound market

Spain ranks twelfth in the world in terms of spend on international travel, but there has been significant growth in recent years in outbound travel.  There has been a tradition of holidaying at home but with rising affluence and boosted by low cost flights, it has become more common to take holidays abroad.  Growth is expected to continue as the holiday habit reaches more Spaniards.

Spain is a major destination in its own right, so the key driver for taking overseas holidays is visiting other countries, learning about their culture (in the widest sense) and seeing and doing lots.  This is reflected in their most popular types of holidays – cities and touring.

Scotland’s visitors

Holidays taken in Scotland have also shown a trend of growth in recent years, encouraged by numerous direct flight links.  It is now our 8^th largest market in terms of total spend.  We can meet their demand for new experiences, and a particular strength is our distinctive culture.  Also due to our climate, Scotland is very definitely different from Spain!  

Marketing Activities

Madrid and Catalonia’s healthy flight links and economic strength make these our prime target regions, and the under 45 year olds, travelling without children, offer the greatest potential.

Not speaking a foreign language is known to be a barrier and so information provision and assistance in Spanish is essential for capturing this market.  For this reason, VisitScotland has created two Spanish language websites - one aimed at touring Scotland and the other at taking city breaks in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  Our main marketing activity is focused on encouraging our target market to visit these websites and to leave us their contact details so that we may continue to engage with them.  

Although the use of the internet is increasingly popular, the Spanish are still largely reliant on the travel agencies for booking holidays to Scotland, often due to the language barrier or lack of familiarity.  VisitScotland therefore works directly with the Spanish travel trade, helping them develop and enhance their Scotland tourism offers.

Some quick facts and insights on this market are available here Spain PDF document 22kb

To find out about our marketing activities in Spain and how you can become involved, please visit our Marketing Opportunities section.

Useful links:

A profile of the Spanish market is also available from VisitBritain:

Statistics on Spanish outbound travel can be found on the website of the Spanish government’s Institute of Tourism Studies (some information available in English)