Madrid, Aug 31 (IANS): A record 10.5 million tourists visited Spain in July, marking a 10.1 per cent increase on the same period last year, new official figures revealed on Thursday.

The latest data brings the total of tourist visits to Spain in the first half of 2017 to 46.9 million people, reports Efe news. 

Once again, tourists from the UK topped the ranks and in July comprised 22.1 per cent of the overall number of foreign vacationers who chose Spain as their summer destination. 

Over 10 million Britons travelled to Spain in the first six months of this year, followed by Germans, 6.8 million of whom visited in that period.

The prosperous northeast region of Catalonia, where the culture-hub city of Barcelona is located, proved most popular among foreign visitors to Spain and welcomed more than 2.5 million foreign visitors in July -- 24.3 per cent of the total number and a 6.5 per cent uptick year-on-year.

Following closely behind with 23.6 per cent of the overall share was the Balearic Islands region, location of the ever-popular tourist hotspots Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca.

The third most-popular choice for foreign visitors was the sun-drenched southern region of Andalusia, home to the cities of Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Marbella.