MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. The number of Russian tourists that visited Spain during the first six months of this year surged by almost 73% year on year versus the like period in 2022, the tourism department of the Spanish embassy in Moscow told TASS.

Altogether, "155,052 Russian tourists visited Spain in the first half of 2023, which is almost 73% higher than in the like period of 2022," the embassy said.

Russians spent over 274 mln euro in Spain in the first half of this year in total. Average expenses per head stood at 1,768 euro.

"The intention of Spain is to facilitate the recovery of the tourist flow [from Russia] when the conditions will be created to do so," the embassy added.

To date, the record-high year for Russian tourists visiting Spain was 2013, when almost 1.6 mln Russian guests visited the Iberian country.