The British love affair with Spain appears to be on the wane after new figures showed tourists heading for the Costas fell by 23.4 per cent last month.

Figures from the Spanish Tourism Ministry released on Monday showed the number of British tourists dropped by almost a quarter compared with the same period in 2008.

The fall in the value of the pound combined with the effects of the recession were blamed for the decrease in British visitors who still make up the largest nationality of foreign tourists.

Overall, the number of tourists visiting Spain fell by 15.9 percent in February compared to the same month a year earlier, the sharpest fall since Spain’s recession began to hit the country’s second largest industry.

Tourism provides more than 10 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product.

Just over 2.8 million tourists came to Spain in February, which is one of the quieter months of the year.

Of these, 51 per cent were Britons or Germans. The number of German tourists fell by 18. 6 per cent in February.

After this, the French, Italians and tourists from Holland and the Belgium were among the largest nationalities to come to Spain. All showed reductions in the number of visitors.

The number of tourist arrivals has fallen every month since June last year.

In terms of regions, Andalucia showed the largest fall in visitors with 23 per cent less in February compared with the same period last year. This was followed by the Canary Islands at 15.1 per cent, then Catalonia with 11.4 per cent fewer foreign tourists.

Among Spaniards, Andalucia, Valencia and Catalonia were the most popular areas. All showed falls in visitor numbers of 11.2 per cent, 10.4 per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively.

As the world economic crisis gathers pace and unemployment rises, holidays are often one of the first things to be cut from the family budget.

Data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute showed almost exactly the same trend with regard to hotel stays in February.

The number of paid hotel nights fell by 15.5 percent, after a 12 per cent drop the month before.

The decrease is particularly worrying for hotel chains as it came after a 5.1 decrease in the cost of the average cost of a hotel room compared to February 2008.

Major hotel operators like NH and Sol Melia have been offering large discounts in an effort to lure tourists and business travellers. A night in a five-star hotel may cost as little as €60 euros.

The Spanish Index of Hoteliers’ Incomes showed a year-on-year fall of 3 per cent – or 1.5 per cent less than in January. This also represents a 4.6 per cent decrease compared with the same period in February.

Spain is the world’s second most popular tourist destination after France.

But it has been recently trying to dispel its traditional image as a sun, sand and sea destination.

Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia, the future heirs to the Spanish throne, recently travelled to New York to help publicise a campaign to modernise Spain’s image in the eye of potential American tourists.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?