UD Las Palmas made a glorious comeback to the First Division in a thrilling encounter against Deportivo Alavés that kept fans on the edge of their seats until the final whistle. In front of a raucous near-capacity-crowd of 31,790, Las Palmas sealed their return ticket to the top flight with a hard-fought goalless draw in the season’s photo finish.
#WeCrossMountains
What an interesting last weekend of May ahead. Weather predictions are showing some rain showers are likely across Gran Canaria. This extended #WeekendTips covers up to Tuesday, when all things Canarian are celebrated on the Día de Canarias. There’ll be some gorgeous Patron Saints’ festivities happening in San Fernando de Maspalomas as well as in Valleseco.
Fun Fact:
Valleseco literally means “dry valley” in Spanish, but is actually one of the wettest municipalities Gran Canaria. Nestling between the famous fresh water sources of Firgas & Teror, half way up the island’s mountainous northern slopes, this area is well known for its apple growers, cider and its weekly market
The authorities on Gran Canaria have been engaged in a rigorous search for Swedish tourist Anna-Karin Bengtsson, who went missing in the south of Gran Canaria around April 9. Her unexplained disappearance has caused her family much distress, with no clues to her whereabouts having emerged in the six weeks since they first realised her phone was no longer functioning.
An exciting May weekend ahead with abundant events and festivities taking place all around Gran Canaria. There are Patron Saints’ festivities for Motor Grande, in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria, and in El Tablero in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and up in the mountains of Artenara. There is also a two day lively exhibition event in Meloneras boulevard and the Rally Gran Canaria is held this Friday and Saturday.
The body of a 58-year-old German man was found this Friday floating just off the coast of Mogán, on the south-west of Gran Canaria.
Gran Canaria received 407,000 foreign passengers in March, 23,600 more than during the same month last year, when 383,730 visitors arrived on the island, a 6% rise, according to the latest report published by Spanish airport authority AENA.
These figures now consolidate Gran Canaria’s position of as one of the most preferred tourist destinations, by Europeans, during a period that includes Easter, and once again highlight the Nordic, German and British as primary source markets, leading the arrivals of passengers to the island.
The combined Nordic market was once again the main source of winter arrivals, accounting for 37.4% of total arrivals in March, with 152,000 passengers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland combined, representing an increase of 10,700 visitors (+7.6%). Meanwhile 101,600 travelled from Germany, an increase of 4.7%. Added to this, 71,700 British passengers arrived on the island last month, a modest rise of 0.92% representing 653 more visitors.
In terms of emerging markets, 19,000 Dutch chose Gran Canaria, while visitors originating in Switzerland increased by 22% to total 10,000. The Irish market grew too in March, with a rise of 12% to exceed 7,200 passengers, while visitors flying from Poland recorded a rise of 14.5% to reach 6,255 passengers.
One of the biggest increases in percentage passenger volume came from France, which saw a 40% rise, reaching 4,800 passengers in March.
During the first quarter of this year, more than 1,156,500 international passengers have arrived on the island, a growth 36,500 passengers over the same period last year, a total increase of 3.2%.
Nordic passengers accounted for 38.6% of total arrivals, further consolidating their positive evolution to reach 446,700 passengers added to a 6% increase of 25,200 more people, German numbers rose by 1.6% (4,500 people), to total 290,700 passengers, while 184,750 people flew from the United Kingdom, which actually means an overall decrease of 3.9% -7,500 tourists from British airports compared to the same period of the previous year, when Gran Canaria received 192,000.
From January to March 2018, 53,000 visitors came from the Netherlands, 6.7%, 3,300 more than last year. 27,600 travellers originating in Switzerland increased by 14% adding 3,410 more passengers, while the Belgian market exceeded 24,500 people, an increase of 3% another 705 more visitors.
The report from AENA also confirms positive evolution of various emerging markets including Ireland, which rose 9% to reach 19,600 passengers and Poland, with an increase of 8.4%, 1,400 passengers, to total 18,800 passengers. The French also increased their presence on Gran Canaria during the first quarter with more than 12,300 passengers, representing an increase of 8%, 920 more people, rounding off yet another successful start to the year.
Gran Canaria Airport received it’s 13 millionth passenger journey for 2017 on December 27th, breaking all previous records, exceeding last years record by nearly one million passenger journeys.
The figure, announced by AENA, the Spanish Airport Authority, includes all flights dealt with by the airport, both departures and arrivals, so the Cabildo de Gran Canaria estimates that some 6.5 million individual passengers have travelled through the airport, 70% of whom are thought to have been tourists. This number puts Gran Canaria well on track to surpass last year’s record breaking year, with the president of the Tourist Board, Inés Jiménez, confirming that final figures for 2017 are likely to exceed 4.5 million visitors, both national and international, which would be the highest figure in the island’s history.
The “13 millionth” passenger was Ms Esther Calvo, who arrived to Gran Canaria, accompanied by her partner Daniel Garcia, on a Norwegian airlines flight from Madrid. They were received by Gran Canaria Airport director, Santiago Martínez-Cava, with a bunch of flowers and a round trip ticket to the Island as a gift. The event was also attended by the Spanish Government’s delegate to the the Canary Islands, Mercedes Roldós, and the Communication and Institutional Relations representative of Norwegian airlines, Alfons Claver.
The significant number of passengers recorded this year reflects an upward trajectory, in terms of the number of travelers and ‘operations’ at Gran Canaria Airport, in its more than 80 years of history. 13 million passenger journeys in 2017 consolidates Gran Canaria Airport as ranking sixth nationally in the AENA network for annual traffic volume and the third most important airport in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona, during the winter season.
