In the year 2000, Andalusia received 6,991,973 international tourists,
nearly 7 million, which represents 15% of the total number of international
visitors to Spain. That year, Andalusia was the fourth Spanish
region in a number of entries of international tourists, behind the
Canary Islands (21.6%), the Balearic Islands (21.6%) and Catalonia
(19.2%). Despite the fact that the number of international tourists
whose main destination was Andalusia increased 11.1% over the period
analyzed (2000–2011) and that Andalusia has remained fourth in the
national ranking in terms of numbers of visitors, a slight decrease in
the percentage of visitors can be observed, in contrast with the regions
of Catalonia and Madrid.