Andorra January Visitors Drop 11% to 672K Amid Weather Disruptions

Andorra welcomed 672,636 visitors in January, down 11.3% from 758,035 the previous year, according to the Statistics Department. Overnight tourists increased 1.7% to 422,773, making up 62.9% of the total, while excursionists dropped 27% to 249,863, or 37.1%.

French visitors fell sharply by 37.5% to 132,956, largely due to repeated closures of the RN-20 road from adverse weather, including a landslide on 31 January that continues to block traffic. Spanish arrivals declined 2.9% to 431,646, while visitors from other nationalities rose 7.1% to 108,034.

Among tourists, those from other nationalities grew 16.1% to 104,242, Spanish numbers dipped 1.6%, and French totals stayed below 30,000, down 8.3%. Excursionists faced steeper declines: French day-trippers plunged 42.7% to 103,540, others fell 66% to 3,792, and Spanish decreased 5.4%.

Over the past 12 months, total visitors edged down 0.5%, with tourists up 11.5% and excursionists off 9.5%. By nationality in that period, French visitors declined 8.9%, while Spanish rose 3.8% and others 15.2%. Year-to-date daily visitors increased 0.2%.

Sports activities drove 44% of visits overall, rising to 61.6% for tourists but lagging behind shopping, which motivated 79.8% of excursionists. Most visitors travelled as families (43.9%), followed by couples (30.4%) and friend groups (18.2%). Tourists averaged 3.4 nights for Spaniards, 3.5 for French, and 4.1 for others, with 66% staying in hotels.

The data underscores resilience in overnight tourism from diverse markets, offsetting weather-related hits to day trips from neighbouring countries.