New Consul, New Direct Flight, New Destinations, New Products
The Tourist Office of Spain in Canada hosted a special evening in Toronto to welcome Isabel Martín-Benítez, the newly appointed Consul for Tourism Affairs. Travel industry professionals and media indulged in delicious tapas and Spanish wines at Casa Paco Restaurant on November 28.
2025 Forecasts and Highlights
Benitez talked about the increase in Canadian visitors to Spain, with 653,000 Canadians for all of 2023 compared to 520,000 for the first nine months of 2024.
According to data from ForwardKeys, a 27% increase in bookings is expected for the next six months compared to the previous year. The most popular destinations in Spain are Catalonia, Andalusia and Madrid with major interests in culture, sun and gastronomy. Spain has more than 25,000 restaurants, 250 Michelin-starred restaurants, 13 with 3 Michelin stars. Last year, 10% of tourists were from Gastronomic Tourism.
“New destinations like Valencia, the Basque Country and the Canary Islands have seen a significant increase in Canadian visitors this year,” says Martín-Benítez. Castilla Y Leon, an island region, was also spotlighted as an upcoming destination for Canadians.
Green Spain, located in the northern part of the country, boasts protected natural areas and UNESCO World Heritage sites and cities, spanning across four different provinces: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Pais Vasco.
“Focusing on sustainability is very important for us,” says Martín-Benítez. “In some places, we have over tourism, and we need to manage it. The message we would like to give tourists is come to Spain but leave no footprint on your journey. Let Spain leave its mark on you,” she says.
This is possible through sustainable offers like staying at eco-friendly accommodations, rural hotels and urban eco-hotels. Getting around is easy since Spain has a particularly good public transportation system along with a 4,000-kilometre network of high-speed trains. For example, your clients could get from Madrid to Seville in three hours by train.
Flying Direct
Air Transat announced new direct flights from Montreal to Valencia beginning June 20, 2025. This is the 10th direct flight from Canada to Spain. The Canadian market continues to be an important sector and Martín-Benítez says it’s great to have more connectivity now as direct flights are very important.
With Canada’s largest operators, including Air Canada, Air Transat, and WestJet, Spain now has year-round direct flights from Montreal to Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga and seasonal summer flights from Toronto to Madrid and Barcelona and from Calgary to Barcelona.
New Product Initiatives
“This year, we are going to promote products like MICE, because Spain is one of the best places for MICE. We have 16,000 hotels, and we have a special location for this kind of tourist, for meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions,” explains Martín-Benítez.
The tourism board will be hosting a number of FAMs next year in supporting travel advisor education about the country.
Other initiatives will target solo women travellers, families, snowbirds, and wine lovers. The Ruta del vino, for example, is a popular wine route through Spain’s vineyards allowing travellers to immerse themselves in the Spanish culture.
Another wonderful offering are the Paradores. Created almost 100 years ago in 1928, Paradores are a unique network of hotels designed to support tourist development in Spain. These are special hotels located in palaces and monasteries, sometimes completely isolated. “This hotel network is important for us as they are a public corporation, and they help the places that they are located in to recover because of the touring.”
