According to the study conducted by the Spain’s government, the number of foreign visitors in the country has decreased for the second successive year in 2009.

Moreover, the study revealed that about 52 million foreigners have spent their holidays in the country, 8.7% down as compared to 2008 when 57.3 million foreign tourists visited Spain.

It was the sharpest fall since comparative data began to be kept in 2001, but was below the 10% fall that experts had anticipated.

However, it is said that the exact reason for the fall was the economic disaster that hit both Germany as well as Great Britain, two nations traditionally offering the largest numbers of visitors to Spain.

According to the study, it was said that each tourist spent 990 euros (US$ 1434) during his/her visit. Almost 2,200,000 Spanish work in the tourist industry.

Moreover, Granada’s Alhambra has recorded more tourists than any other city in Spain with around 3 million tourists in last year.

Meanwhile, Madrid's El Prado art gallery and the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona were second and third on the list of the most visited places.