Madrid, Malaga and San Sebastian, the most sought-after urban destinations in 2024

Madrid, Malaga and San Sebastian, the most sought-after urban destinations in 2024

Madrid, Malaga and San Sebastian are the urban destinations with the most bookings in 2024, according to data from Atrápalo, which “confirms the high demand for culture and music in these regions”.

Furthermore, Castellón, Guipúzcoa and Navarra are the preferred destinations in short break tourism.

Beyond Spain, Rome (Italy), London (UK) and Paris (France) are the top European cities, while in 2024, the most visited countries in the world will be Cuba, Morocco and the Dominican Republic.

Moreover, Atrápalo highlighted that some destinations have started implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in their strategies, transforming how travellers discover a destination.

Among them, Menorca stands out with its pilot ‘chatbot’ project, which answers tourists’ questions, a system that Dubai (United Arab Emirates) also introduced, and Tokyo (Japan), which implements AI in translations and recommendations based on user preferences.

Finally, sustainability is not just a trend but has become the central theme for tourist development. Atrápalo also mentioned that Costa Rica, El Hierro, Finland, Slovenia and Iceland are the five most ‘eco-friendly’ destinations.

2023 data

According to the data taken from the report, Spanish travellers’ behaviour in 2023 varied depending on the trip type.

In terms of domestic rural tourism and taking into account the average number of overnight stays, Asturias (5.4 nights), Cantabria (4.4 nights) and Cadiz (4.2 nights) were the most popular provinces. As for average price per stay, Girona was the province with the highest expenditure at €739.12, followed by Malaga (€560.52) and Cantabria (€491.33).

As far as domestic urban tourism is concerned, Alicante and Malaga provinces are at the top in terms of both the number of overnight stays (5.58 and 5.36 nights, respectively) and average expenditure (€381 and €292). Madrid is the third province with the most overnight stays (4.87 nights), and Valencia is the third with the highest average expenditure per stay (€255), closely followed by Barcelona (€254).

Lastly, the islands swept the board for domestic sun and beach tourism. The Canary Islands are the most visited region, with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (5.81 nights and an average spend of €997) and Tenerife (5.55 nights and an average spend of €896) as the main tourist attractions. The Balearic Islands close the top 3 with Majorca as the main attraction (4.98 nights and €645 average expenditure).