The archipelago will be present with a spectacularly designed and more sustainable pavilion at the Madrid tourism fair, where there will be 325 companies and 770 accredited Canarian professionals, figures significantly higher than those of 2022.
Yaiza Castilla highlights that, discounting the effect of average inflation in the European Union, the real increase in tourist turnover in the Canary Islands in 2022 was 16,5% compared to the pre-pandemic year.
Canary Islands Tourism will attend Fitur 2023 with an unstoppable increase in demand for trips to the islands despite the global economic context. This was explained by the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, in the press conference in which she detailed the presence of the archipelago at this event.
"The desire to travel is above any condition and we will continue to promote it through our intense promotional activity and with our special commitment to those tourists who guarantee a longer stay and expense at destination, as well as less dependence on connectivity,” explained Yaiza Castilla during the presentation, in which she was accompanied by the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo.
As Castilla explained, Canarian tourism faces a 2023 in which it persists uncertaintiesand risks increase regarding macroeconomic developments and their consequences on the travel market, due to strong pressures on energy prices, the fall in household purchasing power and higher interest rates.
“However, despite all this travel continues unstoppable and the prospects continue to be very positive for the islands, which are experiencing an increase in regular air capacity put up for sale, both for this winter and for next summer,” said Castilla.
Compared to the pre-pandemic year, the Canary Islands have this winter 9 million seats offered, 25,2% more than in 2019, while for the summer season air capacity increases, for the moment, 12,4% more, with 11,2 million scheduled seats compared to 9,9 million of summer 2019.
A more moderate increase compared to 2022, “which has really been a year of great tourist commitment to the Canary Islands,” as Castilla highlighted. For the season of Summer 2023 An increase of 2,6% is expected compared to 2022, that is, around 300.000 more places.
A fact that the counselor defined, however, as very positive because it must be taken into account that last year closed with the consolidated recovery of tourism on the islands, where the 96% of visitors 2019, about 14,6 million in total.
“In any case, we do not measure success only by counting tourists,” said the counselor, “because we have many other figures that support the good progress of the sector, such as the increase in tourist turnover, which could end the year in around 19.000 million euros, 2.000 more than in 2019, thanks to the greater spending made by these visitors on the islands.” Even taking as a reference the inflation of the entire European Union, which is currently around 10,5%, there would be a real growth in tourist turnover in the Canary Islands of 16,5% compared to the pre-pandemic year.
Castilla explained that, in addition, Turismo de Canarias greatly improved in one of its main objectives, diversification of markets. In this regard, the positive evolution of the arrival of Italian (132%), French (128%), Danish (118%) and Dutch (113%) visitors stood out.
He too british market, Despite starting the year still with harsh anti-covid restrictions, it was able to make a comeback and in the accumulated period until November, the Canary Islands had already recovered 99% of these tourists. The German market, however, had a more negative evolution, despite which it recovered 84%. Likewise, Nordic tourists decreased, with a recovery of 75%, as they are still very affected by connectivity problems as a result of the slowdown in Norwegian's expansion, although the airline is gradually recovering some of the routes it operated in the past.
As for the accommodation sector, it also left great figures, achieving profitability that had not occurred for many years, with a real growth of more than 15%, according to Istac data. "In addition, we can offer positive data on employment thanks to the good progress of tourism since in November the number of affiliates in the characteristic activities of this sector it was 2,4% above the same month in 2019 and the number of unemployed was reduced by 24%,” Castilla explained.
A good performance of the economic engine of the islands that will continue in 2023. “Although it is true that we have been fearing the slowdown and fall in travel for some time, we see that the data is going in another direction. Even when? It is difficult to know,” acknowledged the counselor, who added that Turismo de Canarias will continue working on the steady improvement of the tourism model and in maintaining positive figures at fairs such as Fitur, always with the help of the private sector.
“We will attend Ifema accompanied by many more companies and professionals than in 2022, since on this occasion there will be 325 businesses with us in Madrid, compared to 267 in the last edition, as well as 770 agents in the sector accredited, more than one hundred more than last year, when there were 660," said Castilla, who once again highlighted the striking design and great visual impact of the Canary Islands stand, with which, once again, "we made clear our firm commitment with climate neutrality, the sustainability of the destination and the transformation strategy towards a greener and more ecological tourism model.”
Lower carbon footprint
Regarding the sustainability of the stand, the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo, explained that it has been reduced by up to 59% carbon footprint caused by its assembly, use and disassembly, which has gone from 18,75 tons of CO2 last year to 7,72 tons this year. “This considerable decrease is due to the fact that we moved one and a half less trailers to Madrid thanks to the fact that the material is more modular, stackable and less bulky. In addition, the operators in charge of its setup are eight less than last year, so we also reduced their transportation and accommodation, in addition to hiring services directly in Madrid such as securing and anchoring the elements and cleaning. “Lorenzo detailed.
The global carbon footprint of the Canary Islands' presence in Fitur will be 78,95 tons of CO2 in this edition compared to 83,87 tons last year, that is, it decreases by almost five tons (6% less), despite the fact that in this year's measurement the number of people who travel to Madrid has been specified, so their number has increased.
On this occasion, the carbon footprint of the staff of the public company Gestión del Medio Rural de Canarias (GMR), responsible for tastings and tastings of Canarian products, as well as the people who participate in recreational activities, has also been measured. of the weekend, intended for the general public.
“Without a doubt, the measurement experience has been enormously satisfactory because we have learned and improved a lot our sustainability, increasing our precision and establishing a more consolidated dynamic,” explained Lorenzo, who emphasized the good work done since “even incorporating the CO2 emissions caused by 114 more members of the delegation than last year, we achieved a considerable reduction thanks to the improvements incorporated into the stand.”
As the managing director explained, the intention is to continue with the actions of emission reduction with greater reuse of materials, which is expected to be close to 75% and will reach 100% of the graphic elements, without detriment to the final quality of the stand.
Innovative and visual stand
The stand, co-financed with Feder funds, presents a completely new design at Fitur that was already debuted at the last World Travel Market (WTM) and is characterized by displaying significant communication potential, high design quality and an innovative approach, in addition to having several visual appeals to generate notoriety.
The main of these complaints are the 16 large aerial cubes of strong visual impact, which will function as enormous showcases of the Canarian tourist offer and where images will be projected
Infographic of the Canary Islands stand.
audiovisuals of the eight islands, as well as the five priority segments: sun and beach, including families, active tourism, nature, culture and heritage and LGTBI, in line with the brand's communication strategy.
The stand, located in an area of 1.425 m2, It also has four hanging showcases with Canarian-inspired gardens and native flora, which were already used at the WTM and will be used again at the ITB in Berlin. In addition, it has a high-resolution LED porch that gives entrance to the main area and which, together with the 18 large-format projection screens, double that of the last edition, achieve a high-impact visual effect to capture attention. of visitors. The installation of electronic and lighting equipment and devices is carried out with LED technology, which achieves greater luminosity with lower consumption of electrical power.
Likewise, the privileged location of the private meeting tables stands out, close to the corridors, with easy access and great visibility, as well as the multiple institutional offices and the large work meeting area for companies. Once again, there is a differentiated work area for the media with a national presence and, as a novelty,includes a television set for the live broadcast of news and entertainment programs.
Promotional innovation is once again evident in Fitur, with the priority placement of digital content information points, which “represent considerable progress in achieving a complete and updated record of all our tourist resources in digital format,” explained Lorenzo. In addition, Turismo de Canarias will once again bring to Ifema the application that replaces paper and allows users to have a more personalized and individualized experience of the destination. This app has improvements in its functionality and more content than in previous fairs.
In addition, traditional activities of a participatory and energizing nature will be held, such as the typical Canarian fruit juice bar, the local product tasting area and wine tastings from the islands run by the public company GMR, and the experiential cube provided with 3-D glasses virtual reality to enjoy an immersive vision of the destination.
