Official data from the Gran Canaria Tourism Board from July 2026. The business climate of the tourism sector in southern Gran Canaria is experiencing a scenario of profound economic contraction, as revealed by official indicators on business performance and the limiting factors of activity in the successive quarters analyzed.
Among the main factors limiting business activity, labor shortages and increased competition continue to squeeze the operating margins of accommodation companies. In the hotel sector, staffing shortages remained a major burden, with an index of 47,96 in the second quarter of 2026, while weak demand climbed alarmingly to 43,57 points, registering a year-on-year increase of 3,03%. In the apartment sector, weak demand surged sharply to 73,14 points in the second quarter of 2026, with a year-on-year change of 17,36%, demonstrating that visitors are cutting back on spending due to rising costs.
Finally, assessments of public administration policies reveal increasing regulatory and control demands in the sector. In the hotel sector, regulations for the accommodation industry surged to 45,94 points in the second quarter of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 35,96%, while environmental protection and safety solidified their position as institutional priorities, scoring 50,71 and 51,81 points respectively. These figures paint a complex business picture, where increased regulatory restrictions and contracting difficulties limit the ability of tourism businesses to react to the volatility of source markets.
Valuation figures compared to the same period of the previous year show a notable slowdown, especially in the second quarter of 2026, where hotels recorded a positive employment balance of 14,89 with a year-on-year change of 5,08%, while their revenue fell sharply to a balance of 14,36 with a year-on-year increase of just 2,65%. Investment in this hotel segment experienced a similar trend, reaching a balance of 14,98 with a negative year-on-year change of 7,81%, and the price level showed a balance of 15,22 with a year-on-year drop of 15,10%.
The situation in the apartment segment is even more critical, accumulating widespread negative data that confirms the decline in profitability in the non-hotel accommodation model. During the second quarter of 2026, employment in apartments showed a negative balance of -2,05, representing a year-on-year change of -7,69%, while revenue plummeted to -15,96, a year-on-year contraction of 26,37%. In this same period, investment in apartment complexes fell to 5,99, a negative change of 13,48%, and the price level dropped to 10,03, a year-on-year decrease of 12,48%, reflecting a severe loss of competitiveness compared to the previous year.
Analysis of the valuation compared to the previous quarter underscores the severity of this seasonal and operational downturn in the tourism business sector. In hotels, the employment balance for the second quarter of 2026 stood at -4,76, a decrease of 6,64% compared to the previous quarter, while revenue suffered a sharp decline to a balance of -15,68. Meanwhile, apartments experienced a historic collapse in their quarterly business volume in the second quarter of 2026, registering a balance of -50,19, a negative change of 23,14%, accompanied by a drop in employment to a balance of -15,76 and a collapse in prices that reached a balance of -34,30.
