The Canary Islands closed January with 1.2 million foreign tourists and 1,705 million in expenditure, which represents an increase of 58.5% and 50.9% more than in the same month of 2022, respectively, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which stresses that the figures are above pre-pandemic records.
The Archipelago continues to be the preferred tourist destination for international tourists, leading the market share with 29% of the total number of travellers arriving in Spain and more than 33% from the United Kingdom.
In terms of expenditure, the Islands also led the market, accounting for 32.7% of the total, with an average expenditure per tourist of 1,416 euros, 4.8% less than in the same month of the previous year. Daily expenditure stood at 163 euros (+9.4%) and the duration of the trip fell by 13% to 8.7 days. In both cases, the indicators are already above pre-pandemic, given that in January 2020 1.1 million international tourists arrived in the Archipelago and expenditure stood at 1,421.8 million.
Spain also returns to pre-pandemic tourism figures, receiving last January a total of 4.1 million international tourists, 65.8% more than the same month last year, who spent around 5,218 million euros in our country, 71.1% more. With respect to 2019, the data for this January equals the pre-pandemic figures (only 49,594 more tourists arrived in Spain in January 2019 than in January 2023). In terms of spending, the figure for January 2023 far exceeds the pre-pandemic spending: compared to January 2019, international tourists spent 529 million euros more.
For the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, “these extraordinary figures show that tourism will be one of the driving forces of the Spanish economy this year; with figures like those we have seen today, we are closer to our goal: to adapt tourism to the 21st century by boosting its quality”.
In order to maintain these figures, it is essential not to lose connectivity. For this reason, the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Trade of the Canary Islands Government, Yaiza Castilla, said yesterday, during the presentation of the Canary Islands strategy at the ITB fair in Berlin, that they will be “very vigilant” to ensure that the purchase of Air Europa by Iberia does not mean a loss of connectivity or competitiveness for the archipelago. At the moment, the commitment of the two groups has increased by 72% to the Canary Islands compared to the figures for 2019, “which is positive”. “But also,” he said, “we have to be very vigilant to see what happens. This operation still lacks the final authorisation, which will be in about a year and a half. During this time, if nothing happens, it should not have any repercussions whatsoever because apparently there will be no change in the air schedule.
RECORD ATTENDANCE AT SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE CARNIVAL
Hotel occupancy in Santa Cruz de Tenerife reached 85% in the last Carnival, held between 17 and 26 February, with a peak of almost 90% on the first weekend of the festival and over 83% on the second weekend, according to data collected by Ashotel’s Observatory of Sustainability and Competitiveness in Tourism. The vice-president of the employers’ association, Gabriel Wolgeschaffen, considers the balance to be “magnificent” and a very powerful tourist attraction.
“Many of the tourists who visited us on these dates left their hotels with reservations made for the 2024 edition,” explains Wolgeschaffen, who considers that this fact of such long-term reservations is a “very clear example” of the interest it generates for many visitors. In his opinion, “the international projection of this festival is undisputed and its consecration depends on programming a whole strategy that allows the Carnival to be known throughout the year”.
