A report in Europa Press today said that there were 7,072 foreign tourists per kilometre along the coast in the Balearic Islands in 2011. Someone apparently calculated this by dividing the number of people registered at hotels by the length of the coastline. Something to do over this slow period I suppose.
It sounded quite a lot to me, but then I read that in Catalunya the figure rises to 19,696 per kilometre. Crikey. In the Valencia region it is 10,393 and in Andalucía 8,344. The Canary Islands come in at 6,436, just above the average in Spain of 6,365.
Figures drop dramatically along the north coast of the country, which arguably has the best beaches – although of course these stats are only for foreign visitors, not Spaniards. Galicia only gets 457 per kilometre, followed by Asturias with 497 and Cantabria with 1,075.
50.1 million foreign tourists spent their holidays somewhere on the coast in mainland Spain, the Balearics and the Canaries in 2011, and 83.4% of them went to Catalunya, the Valencia region, Andalucía, the Balearics and the Canaries. Shame a few more don’t venture north.
Mooching around Spain 
Yes, Annie, I often advise travellers to Spain to hit the north. That applies to my island of Gran Canaria too. The rugged undeveloped north coast is a surprising contrast to the manufactured southern resorts.
Absolutely – the north coast is much more interesting!