In 2023, the Canary Islands experienced a remarkable resurgence in their tourism industry, with total revenues in both hotel and extra-hotel establishments reaching an impressive €4.918 billion. This figure represents a substantial 25.3% growth compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, when revenues stood at €3.924 billion. These findings are based on data from the Tourist Accommodation Survey conducted by the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (Istac) and analyzed by Ashotel‘s Tourism Competitiveness and Sustainability Observatory.
One noteworthy aspect of this surge in revenue is that it outperformed other tourism indicators such as the number of travelers and overnight stays. This suggests that the average expenditure in accommodation establishments has risen significantly, contributing to the overall growth.
However, it’s important to consider the impact of year-on-year inflation, which can potentially skew the results. In this context, it’s vital to assess the real economic growth accounting for inflation adjustments.
Across the seven islands of the Canary archipelago, five demonstrated total accumulated income exceeding 2019 levels. Lanzarote experienced the most substantial growth with an impressive 32.3% increase, reaching €872.9 million. Fuerteventura followed closely with a 30.7% rise, reaching €728.2 million. Tenerife saw a robust growth of 26.4%, totaling €1.797 billion, and Gran Canaria experienced a 20.2% increase, reaching €1.448 billion. On the flip side, La Palma saw a significant decrease of -21.5%, recording €33.5 million, and La Gomera experienced a -1.8% decline, with revenues of €34.2 million.
In terms of accommodation statistics, the hotel and extra-hotel establishments accommodated 13.8 million travelers in 2023, representing a 3.1% increase compared to 2019, the reference year before the pandemic. However, the number of overnight stays experienced a 2.3% decline, totaling 95.7 million compared to 97.9 million in 2019.
When considering the islands individually, La Palma continued to struggle with a negative performance in the number of overnight stays, experiencing the worst decline compared to 2019 at -45%. La Gomera followed with a -22.6% decline, El Hierro with a -12.6% decrease, and Gran Canaria with an -8.6% drop. Conversely, Fuerteventura showed positive growth, with a 4.7% increase, followed by Tenerife (1.4%) and Lanzarote (0.1%).
In terms of the number of travelers accommodated, Fuerteventura witnessed the most significant increase with a growth of 10.6% (1.97 million), followed by Tenerife (7.2%, 5.3 million) and Lanzarote (3.5%, 2.5 million). On the other end of the spectrum were La Palma (-29.7%, 162,029), La Gomera (-26.7%, 128,495), El Hierro (-5.2%, 20,400), and Gran Canaria (-2.5%, 3.8 million).
The average occupancy per bed across all of the Canary Islands in 2023 was 72.2%. Lanzarote boasted the highest average occupancy at 77.4%, followed by Tenerife (75.3%), Gran Canaria (69.3%), Fuerteventura (68.8%), La Gomera (56.9%), La Palma (47.4%), and El Hierro (26.4%).
In terms of average length of stay, the Canary Islands closed the year with an average stay of 7.06 days. Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura recorded average stays exceeding 7 days, with Tenerife at 6.6 days, La Gomera at 5.9 days, La Palma at 5.4 days, and El Hierro at 3.7 days.
Juan Pablo González, the manager of Ashotel, emphasized that while 2023 brought undeniable positive figures in terms of travelers accommodated and income, the average length of stays has not yet reached 2019 levels. He noted a trend of shorter holiday periods, impacting the average stays.
Furthermore, when assessing total income over a two-year period with adjustments for price components, inflation plays a significant role in understanding the percentage increases.
Comparing to the previous year, the main indicators from this survey—overnight guests, overnight stays, and total revenue—all showed improvement across the islands, except for El Hierro, which saw a -9.8% decrease in total revenue. In the Canary Islands as a whole, overnight stays grew by 10.4%, overnight guests by 9.2%, and revenue by 18.4%, showcasing the resilience and recovery of the tourism sector in the archipelago.
