Gran Canaria President, Antonio Morales, Canary Islands President, Fernando Clavijo, Gran Canaria Tourism Councillor, Ines Jimenez, & Canary Islands Tourism Minister, Isaac Castellano, at World Travel Market 2017
British tourists who travel to the Canary Islands spent a total of €4.5 billion last year, 30% of total tourist turnover. The Canary Islands Government Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sports, Isaac Castellano, stated during this year’s World Travel Market in London that the level of spending has not reduced since the ‘Brexit’ referendum last year, remaining around €1,073 per trip
The Minister for Tourism also said that “the loyalty of British tourists to the Canary Islands is beyond doubt, with 84% being repeaters, and turnover having grown since 2010 by 69%.”
Of the more than 5 million British tourists who choose the Canary Islands for their holidays, nearly 20% (about 800,000 tourists), are seen as true lovers of the Islands due to the fact that they have come more than ten times.
Airline Jet2 has announced it is increasing flights, by more than double the number, this winter season, going from 55 weekly connections from the United Kingdom to 117 .
There are currently eight airlines with regular connections between the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands, with 544 connections per week divided between British Airways, Norwegian, Condor, Ryanair, Jet2, Thomas Cook, Thomson Airways or Easyjet.
The British are one of the most important tourist markets in the world and every year more than 50 million tourists go abroad to enjoy their holidays. The Canary Islands continues to maintain a high share of British outbound tourism, at 7% of the global total.
Between the months of January and September, the Canarian archipelago received 4,018,940 tourists from the United Kingdom, an absolute record that means the arrival of 382,366 more tourists, over the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.5%. With these good figures of sustained and growth in the British market, despite the fears surrounding Brexit, the Canary Islands has displayed great positivism at this year’s World Travel Market (WTM) in London , one of the most important tourism fairs in the world.
Even with these positive figures, the Canary Islands tourist board have remained mindful of their need continue with a strategy of market diversification, since medium-term risks continue to be high due to the Brexit negotiations, the depreciation of the pound against the euro, as well as other factors such as the loss of connectivity due to the recent bankruptcy of Monarch airlines. Regarding the latter, it is expected that the rest of the airlines will increase their programming to cover the loss, at least in part; in fact, some have already made their first moves to position themselves at the airports and markets in which Monarch operated.
Representing around 1/3 of the total tourism market in The Canary Islands helps to ensure the continuing importance of relations between the archipelago and the United Kingdom, both in terms of tourism and trade.
