The tourism industry in southern Gran Canaria is facing a worrying erosion in its most strategic pillar: visitor loyalty. Indicators for 2025 reveal that the volume of repeat tourists to the island suffered a drastic collapse during the third quarter, falling to 55,4%. This figure represents a loss of 15,1 percentage points compared to the robust 70,5% recorded at the start of the year, highlighting a critical inability to retain travelers during the summer season.
The profile of the long-term, "loyal" visitor also shows signs of structural exhaustion. The segment of tourists with more than ten previous visits to Gran Canaria was reduced by almost half last summer, falling from 14,7% in the first quarter to a meager 8,4% in the third. This trend is mirrored across the archipelago as a whole, where the number of repeat visitors to the Canary Islands dropped from 77,8% to 63,4% in the same period, marking the lowest level of loyalty for the entire year.
This detachment coincides with a decline in the appreciation of the stay during peak times.
During the third quarter, according to ISTAC, the percentage of tourists who rated their experience as "worse or much worse than expected" climbed to a yearly high of 3,7%. As a direct consequence of this dissatisfaction, the intention to return to the Canary Islands registered its lowest figure of the year, with a score of 8,54 out of 10, compared to 8,85 in the first quarter.
The decline in customer loyalty directly impacts the profitability of properties in the south, coinciding with a visitor profile of lower purchasing power. During the period when repeat visitors reached their lowest point, the segment of tourists with annual incomes exceeding €75.000 fell to 25,4%, while those with incomes below €25.000 reached their annual peak of 16,0%. The south of the island thus faces the challenge of winning back its long-standing clientele in an environment of growing dissatisfaction and declining accommodation value.
