In August 2026, three in four international tourists arrived in Spain without a package. And those staying in rented homes grew faster than those staying in hotels.

Picture this: a couple in Toronto are planning ten days in Andalusia in June. No agent, no package, all on a phone. One tab shows a five-star hotel in Marbella that asks for dates before showing anything. Another shows a villa with a pool ten minutes away, with the total price, thirty photos, the map and two hundred reviews on one screen. That night, they book the villa. Nobody at the hotel will ever know it came close.

People keep saying Spain no longer wants more tourists, only tourists who spend more. The 2026 figures tell a luxury hotel something more useful: who organises the trip, where they sleep, and what they compare before deciding.

What the figures say.

Spain welcomed about 96.8 million international tourists in 2025, up 3.2% on 2024, and they spent €134,712 million, up 6.8%, according to INE data published by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism. Spending grew more than twice as fast as arrivals. The United Kingdom was the largest market by spending, at €23,650 million.

In the first eight months of 2026 the trend continued: almost 70.4 million tourists, up 5.4%, and €99,892 million in spending, up 8.0%. But in August, the busiest month, average spending per tourist was €1,455, similar to the year before. Total spending rose because more tourists came, not because each one spent more.

The figure that gets quoted less.

In August 2026, 12.3 million international tourists arrived in Spain. Almost 9.2 million travelled without a package: three in four. They planned the trip themselves, compared options themselves and booked themselves.

Where they sleep is changing too. In the first eight months of 2026, tourists staying in hotels grew by 4.2%, to 45.5 million. Those staying in rented homes grew by 11.4%, to 9.2 million. In August alone, hotels grew by 6.6% and rentals by 13.7%.

One last figure, to know whom to speak to. In August, tourists from the rest of the world, meaning those not coming from Germany, France, Italy, the Nordic countries or the United Kingdom, spent €231 per person per day. Those from the United Kingdom spent €198, from Germany €194 and from France €149.

What they do not say.

These are averages for all tourism, not for luxury. INE’s releases do not split hotels by category, and I have no reliable figure for how many high-end travellers choose a villa over a hotel. Nor do I know how much of that €231 a day comes from the United States, Latin America or Asia, because that table does not break it down. Flat spending per tourist in August does not mean luxury is not growing. It means the average no longer explains everything.

The blind spot: your competition is not always another hotel.

A tourist travelling without a package is not looking for a hotel. They are looking for somewhere to stay, and the same search shows hotels, villas, branded apartments and charming country houses. A villa listing usually shows, on a single screen, what weighs most in the decision: the total price, what it looks like inside, exactly where it is and what others think. A hotel website that asks for dates before showing anything is competing at a disadvantage with that listing.

And the villa has a limit the hotel does not: nobody sets the table, nobody books the massage, nobody answers at eleven at night when the flight is late. That is the hotel’s ground, and it is the first thing your website should tell.

You do not beat a villa with more photos of the room. You beat it by showing what happens outside the room.

Where I stand.

I think a luxury hotel in Spain should design its website for the guest who compares alone, on a phone, with another tab open. That means showing on the first screen what a villa cannot offer, the service, the table, the spa, the airport transfer, and the total price with its conditions, with no surprises. And answering at any hour in the language of whoever is asking. A guest who books alone owes nobody anything. They choose you, or they choose the other tab.

What I would check.

• The first screen on a phone. What someone arriving from Google sees before touching the booking engine.
• The price. Whether the total with taxes and conditions appears before the last step, or at the end, as a surprise.
• What a villa does not have. Whether the restaurant, the spa, the transfer and room service are visible or have to be hunted for.
• The languages. Whether the website speaks the languages of the markets that spend most per day, not only those that arrive in the largest numbers.
• The night-time reply. What someone receives when they write at eleven at night from another time zone.

Where to start.

1. This week

   Book like a guest

   On a phone, search for your hotel and the best-rated villa in your area, and compare the two screens.

2. This month

   Rewrite the first screen

   What the villa does not offer, the total price and a clear way to ask a question.

3. This quarter

   Answer out of hours

   Automated replies in the guest’s language for routine questions, and a person for what matters.

4. Every month

   Check INE

   Frontur and Egatur publish arrivals and spending by region every month. Compare your season with your region’s.

Open your website and the listing for the best villa in your area in two tabs. Put yourself in the place of a family of four travelling without a package, with a similar budget for either.

What does the villa offer them that your website does not show? And what does your hotel offer that the villa cannot, but your website does not mention either? If the second answer is hard to find, your competition is no longer only the hotel across the road.

If you would like me to review how your website competes with a villa listing today, start with the Strategic Diagnostic. Which price and conditions to offer is for your hotel’s management to decide, not a designer.