The Canary Islands exceeded 5.9 million international air passengers in the first five months of the year, which is 20.5% more than in the same period of 2022, according to data released by Turespaña.
Of this figure, 2.37 million arrived between January and May at the islands’ airports on traditional airlines (+13.6%), compared with 3.53 million on low-cost airlines (+25.7%).
In May alone, the Canary Islands received 968,040 foreign visitors, 8.8% more than the same figure for the previous year. Here, 604,338 did so on low cost airlines (+12.2%) and 363,702 on traditional airlines (+3.4%).
Meanwhile, in Spain as a whole, the country exceeded 34 million international air passengers in the first five months of the year, 28.8% more than in the same period last year.
For the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, these visitor figures confirm the “excellent” performance of tourism in the first half of the year, both in terms of the number of tourists and the improvement in the quality and services offered by Spain to travellers.
“Our forecast for the high season is that we will match and even surpass pre-pandemic data for 2019 in tourists, overnight stays and spending,” he added.
In addition, Spain received more than 8.8 million international air passengers in May, 13.9% more than in the same month last year. Travellers to Spain from all the main countries increased in this month, with 55.7% of the total number of passengers coming from the European Union, up 12.6%, while the flow from the rest of the world, which accounted for the remaining 44.3%, grew by 15.5%.
In terms of countries, and comparing with the figures for May 2022, the markets with the highest growth are Poland, with 36.4% more, followed by Portugal and Italy, with 24.1% and 22.6%, respectively.
CANARY ISLANDS: UNITED KINGDOM LEADS IN TOURIST ARRIVALS
In terms of volume, the United Kingdom was the leading issuer of passengers in May (2,167,830), with an annual growth of 9.5%, representing 24.6% of the total share of arrivals.
The arrival of British travellers has had an impact on all the Autonomous Communities, but especially on the Balearic Islands, which was the destination for 25.2%, and the Canary Islands, which was the destination for 21.2% of its passengers.
The total number of passengers from this country so far this year amounts to 7,439,633, 27.2% more than in the first five months of 2022.
After the United Kingdom, Germany remains the second country of origin of international passengers. Passenger arrivals from Germany (14.8% of the total) increased by 7.5% in May, particularly benefiting the Balearic Islands (45.2% of total passengers).
Italy, the third country of origin, accounted for 9% of passenger arrivals in May, registering a year-on-year growth of 22.6%, which particularly benefited Catalonia (29.9% of passengers) and Madrid (25.8%).
In fourth place, France issued 7.9% of the total number of passengers in May, showing a growth of 9.8%, which mainly favoured Madrid and Catalonia. In the case of the Netherlands, international passengers increased by 1.5% in May, with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands as the main destinations.
VALENCIAN COMMUNITY, THE FASTEST GROWING
Among the six main destinations, the Valencian Community recorded the highest year-on-year growth (19%), followed by Madrid (16.7%) and Catalonia (15.8%). The increase in the six communities with the highest number of arrivals as a whole (the six together account for 96.8% of the total) was 13.5%.
In terms of airports, Valencia airport experienced the highest year-on-year growth (+23%), followed by Barcelona (+18.4%) and Alicante (+17.2%). In terms of total volume, Barajas had 1,872,143 international passengers in May, compared to 1,640,439 for Barcelona airport; in third place was Palma de Mallorca airport, with 1,376,149 international passengers in May.
Of the total number of passengers arriving in Spain by air in May, 60.9% of them chose a CBC company to travel, with an increase of 13.9% compared to last year, while those who flew with traditional companies, the remaining 39.1%, increased by 13.8%.
