Tourist numbers in Spain broke an all-time record in August, with 7.6m foreign visitors entering the country according to a survey by FRONUR.

The figure represented a 9.4% increase compared to August 2010 and in the most recent 12 month period more than 40m tourists have gone to Spain, up 7.8% compared to the previous 12 month period.

So far this year 32m visitors have chosen to vacate in Spain, which is the 4 th most visited nation in the World.

The FRONTUR survey, which records the movements of tourists at the border, found that 23% of all Spain’s visitors during the first 7 months of this year were British with Germany contributing 18% of all tourists. France and the Scandinavian nations followed as major contributors, while visitors from the US increased by over 15%.

Further research into Spain’s tourism industry found that the majority of travelers are using budget airlines as their primary source of transport. Low cost airlines carried 20.7m of Spain’s passengers during the first 7 months of the year.

The busiest budget airlines in Spain remain Ryanair, Easyjet and Air Berlin who together transported 54% of passengers using low cost airlines in July.

Visitors to Spain spent almost 10% more in July than in the same month a year ago and many are now hoping that strong growth in the tourist trade can breathe life into an economy hovering close to stagnation.