Preliminary statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism late Wednesday showed Spain had 82 million visitors from other countries last year, an increase of nearly 9 percent from 2016.

The ministry says the annual numbers, the fifth in a row to set a record, let Spain surpass the United States in the volume of incoming tourists to become the world’s second most-visited country after France.

Some 18 million visitors went to Spain’s northeast Catalonia region, where the killing of 16 people in extremists’ attacks over the summer and a Catalan push for independence in October had raised concerns in the industry.