Hotel occupancy in Santa Cruz de Tenerife reached 85% in the recently celebrated Carnival, that took place between 17 and 26 March, 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 Tourism Sustainability and Competitiveness Observatory.
The vice-president of Ashotel in the metropolitan area, Gabriel Wolgeschaffen, considers that the results of this carnival are “magnificent”, proving that it is 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 the fact that reservations are being made so far in advance to be a “very clear example” of the interest it generates for many visitors.
This is not a new trend, and already in 2019 Ashotel expressed that there was a need to study mechanisms that would allow the Carnival to be promoted in the capital of Tenerife all year round.
“Tenerife has almost 6 million tourists a year, except in pandemic years, and this is an enormous potential for this unique festival,” Wolgeschaffen recalls.
In his opinion, “the international projection of this festival is undisputed and its consolidation requires programming a comprehensive strategy that promotes the Carnival throughout the year”.
It’s not about having parades and performances every day, it’s about creating experiences around the Carnival, organising regular visits to the key points of the whole industry that revolves around this festival, so that visitors can find out, for example, how a workshop works in which the fantasies are designed, how work is done in a rehearsal room or how the whole internal organisation operates, which hardly stops all year round”.
But, in addition, the Carnival is “a very important source of economy and jobs”, adds the vice-president of Ashotel, who points out that “no other city in the world has specialised in this way of business that generates value all year round”.
For Wolgeschaffen, “our customers are eager to know and participate in the festival and, of course, pay for it, in addition to the merchandising business linked to the brand, which, apart from the income, would be an exceptional marketing tool”.
Thus, the hotel employers’ association proposes to go a step further in the professionalisation of this festival which, in itself, already has an indisputable national and international prestige, promoted by the municipal corporation with the involvement of thousands of people every year.
“We definitely have to believe in it, because we know how to do it and because very few festivals have the international projection of our Carnival”, he concludes.
