Brits are Murcia’s biggest foreign visitors as its airport passes six million passengers

Brits spent more than €374 million in the Region of Murcia between January and August, and easyJet’s new Liverpool route is due to bring more of them next spring. Meanwhile, Corvera airport, which opened in January 2019, is growing at twice the pace of Aena’s wider network.

Brits make up nearly a third of the region’s foreign visitors

Between January and August, 949,861 international visitors came to the Region of Murcia, a record high and up 14.2 per cent, and they spent €1.25 billion.

Brits accounted for 298,642 of them, up 15.5 per cent, and spent €374.3 million, around 30 per cent of all foreign tourism spending. Dutch visitors were some of the other main contributors, numbering 69,254 and up 24.2 per cent, spending €118.7 million.

Murcia’s airport marked the milestone with a flight from Dublin 

Corvera airport, meanwhile, hit the six million passenger mark on Monday October 5, when a Ryanair flight from Dublin arrived to mark the occasion. It opened in January 2019, replacing the old San Javier airport.

Juan Francisco Martínez, director of the regional tourism institute (ITREM), and airport director Carlos Sanmartín were there for the celebration. Martínez called it ‘a significant achievement’ at a time when both the airport and regional tourism are growing.

Growth is running at twice the Aena average 

Between January and August, Corvera handled 709,319 passengers, up 8.4 per cent on the same period last year. That’s roughly double the 4.1 per cent growth across the wider network run by Aena (Spain’s state-run airport operator). Almost all of that traffic is international, with nearly nine in 10 passengers flying on international flights. There were 624,220 international commercial passengers, up 7.3 per cent.

August was a touch quieter than the year as a whole, with 134,007 passengers, up 5.9 per cent. Although, that’s still comfortably ahead of last year.

Liverpool and Amsterdam flights start next spring 

Two new routes should add to that growth from late March. easyJet will fly from Liverpool on Monday March 29, 2027, twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, as part of its wider 2027 Spain expansion. Transavia follows the next day with its Amsterdam route, which will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

It’s a welcome change for Liverpool, which is among six UK airports losing more than half of its Palma flights this winter.

Both routes are already on sale, so anyone planning a spring trip to the Costa Cálida can book now.