2016 saw sharp rise in British holidaymakers to Spain, with more to come this year

The enduring love affair between British holidaymakers and Spain seems able to survive anything thrown its way: economic crashes, Brexit, the tumbling pound, the TV series Benidorm.

The strength of this bond was evident in 2016, as official data compiled by travel market analysts GfK proves – last year, 17.8 million Brits visited Spain on holiday. This is a record figure, but it’s a record figure that is likely to be smashed this year: GfK have also reported that early bookings for summer holidays in Spain by Brits are already 16% up on last year…

This incessant demand can be traced to many simple factors. Spain’s weather is far warmer and more settled than the UK’s, drinks, food and leisure activities are cheaper, as is accommodation, and the Spanish property market offers more quality and value for money than anything found in the UK.

But there are more abstract reasons for the continuation of this love affair. Success breeds success, and it is almost a rite of passage for Brits to set that first foot on the tarmac of a Spanish runway at some point in their lives. Italy, France, Greece, the USA? These are “might visit” countries. Spain is, and always has been, a “must visit” kind of place.

And with the threat of terrorism heightened in many of Spain’s Mediterranean rival nations – namely Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia – the country’s safe haven status has proved a powerful beacon for millions more Brits in the past few years.

“We have been happy with the figures – instead of a fall there has been a sharp rise,” Canary Islands’ VC of Tourism Cristóbal de la Rosa said. The fall he was worried about was related to Brexit and the subsequent fall in the pound’s value – but these uncertainties seem to have merely served to strengthen British holidaymakers’ resolve to make their holiday a Spanish holiday.