Hotel and other holiday establishments in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife associated with Ashotel have already booked an average of 68.3% of their reservations for July and August, 15 days before the start of this holiday period. These are already closed bookings and not occupancy forecasts, as in previous surveys carried out for holiday periods by the hotel employers’ association, which will certainly increase in the coming weeks, according to the internal survey carried out by Ashotel in the period from 6 to 13 June, through its Tourism Competitiveness and Sustainability Observatory.
Specifically, although they are not comparable, the accommodation sector associated with Ashotel expected to have an average occupancy rate in the province of 76% in mid-June 2022, figures that were exceeded in July and August at the end of both months. Ashotel has modified the question in its survey to focus on actual bookings rather than more inaccurate forecasts.
By islands, Tenerife has the highest reservations at the moment (69.3%), followed by La Palma (53.9%) and La Gomera (51.3%). Although the hotel employers’ association expects positive figures for El Hierro, on this occasion there is not a sufficiently large sample for the island.
Meanwhile, by areas of Tenerife, the south has the highest rate of bookings for these two months, with an average of 72.8%, while the north currently has 60.2% of bookings closed and the metropolitan area with 35.3%.
The case of La Palma continues with its special casuistry, as several establishments in the tourist area of Puerto Naos, in Los Llanos de Aridane, have been closed, if not buried, since the eruption of the volcano in September 2021, due to the accumulation of gases that make the normal development of the activity incompatible. This keeps more than 4,000 beds that operated before the eruption out of the market.
Hotel Bookings in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Data by Month
As for the summer months, the average estimates are not very different from July to August, according to the data collected and processed by Ashotel’s Tourism Sustainability and Competitiveness Observatory. Thus, while in July the associated establishments already have 70.6% of bookings registered, in August they are at 66.1%. As will happen in July in the next two weeks, even more so in August, further in time, both months are par excellence the holiday months for many Canarian, national and international families and this percentage will rise due to last minute bookings, an increasingly widespread trend.
Compared to the pre-pandemic year, a benchmark for gauging the total recovery of the sector, in the survey conducted by Ashotel 39.8% of the establishments in the province say that the occupancy forecast they expect for July will be higher than in 2019, while 32.2% believe it will be lower and 28.2% believe it will maintain occupancies equal to the pre-pandemic year. By islands, La Palma is the one with the worst forecast, with 75% stating that it will be lower than in 2019, while the remaining 25% believe it will be higher.
In Tenerife, this expectation is lower in 35.8% of cases, the same in 26.7% of cases and higher in the remaining 37.4%, while in La Gomera 54.5% think that their occupancy in July will be lower than in 2019, 27.3% that it will be higher and 18.2% that it will be the same.
For August, the percentage in the Tenerife province of those who believe that their occupancy will be lower stands at 38.8%, compared to 31.9% who believe it will be higher and 29.2% who believe it will be the same as the same month in 2019. By islands, the percentages are the same on La Palma: 75% of those surveyed believe that their occupancy will be lower than in 2019, while the remaining 25% believe it will be higher.
In La Gomera, 45.5% believe that occupancy in August will be lower, 36.4% that it will be the same and only 18.2% think it will be higher. Finally, in Tenerife, 37.4% think it will be lower, compared to 33.6% who think it will be higher and the remaining 29% who think it will be the same.
Ashotel considers that demand for this summer is satisfactory, although a slight slowdown in the rate of bookings from Germany has been detected, but in general terms the sector is optimistic. As a result, and as long as there are no events that overtake the destination and the sector, such as those experienced in the past, this will be a good summer in the province and at the end of July and August it is very likely that it can be said that tourism has recovered with respect to pre-pandemic times.
