MADRID, Jan 21: The number of international tourists who arrived in Spain last year reached 59.2 million, a 1.7 per cent increase over the previous year, officials said on Monday.

British tourists continued to account for the largest group of foreign visitors, with 16.3 million arrivals last year, a 0.5 per cent increase over 2006, the industry and tourism ministry said in a statement.

Nearly half of all visitors from Britain, about 42 per cent, headed to the beaches of Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic and the Balearic archipelago in the Mediterranean.

Germany was the next biggest source of tourists, with 10 million arrivals, a 0.7 per cent decrease over 2006, followed by France with 9.3 million tourists in 2007, a 1.2 per cent increase over the previous year.

The number of visitors from the United States meanwhile jumped 22 per cent over 2006 to 1.1 million.—AFP