The possible rise of Las Palmas, a factor to take into account in the tourist growth of Gran Canaria

 

Despite the tie in La Romareda and the doubts about the figure of García Pimienta, of whom there have been calls for his dismissal from sectors of the yellow fans, the Unión Deportiva Las Palmas still has options to promote directly and even as LaLiga Smartbank champion team, something that can become a great ally for the island's tourism sector. 

 

The promotion of Unión Deportiva Las Palmas to La Liga, ranked 5th in LaLiga Smartbank, just 3 points behind the lead and clinging to the top of the standings since the start of the season, would mean an increase in the arrival of tourists. Mainly they would be national tourists, that is, fans of Spanish clubs who visit the island to see their team play their league match in Gran Canaria; but the international projection of the competition also promises a good number of international visitors.

 

A 2015 study by the Spanish platform Ticketbis (renamed StubHub after being sold to eBay) found that the number of international tourists visiting Spain for football league matches surpassed that of any other European league. The study highlighted that 7,4% of tourists who visited Spain and attended a match were Korean, making them the nationality with the highest percentage of visitors for this purpose. They were followed by Americans (5,8%), French (5,3%), Germans (4,5%), and Brazilians (3,3%). Interestingly, and following the data from this study, the presence of such a large Korean community in the Canary Islands could be an incentive for Koreans to visit, especially given the possibility of the island team's promotion to the top tier of Spanish football.

 

Given the competition's international reach, the league itself has launched a series of initiatives to encourage growth beyond Spain's borders, with a particular focus on the Asian market. Match schedules have been adjusted for this market, and commercial agreements have been reached with multinationals like China Mobile to broadcast matches across Asia. This has led key companies in the Spanish tourism sector, such as Iberia, to invest in these initiatives driven by the country's premier sporting competition.

 

 

The reality is that football is a very reliable ally for the tourism sector, encompassing many age ranges and diverse profiles, something that is not always positive, since it can give rise to mobilizations of ultras, which on many occasions require exhaustive police monitoring and cause damage as happened last year in the Europa League final between fans of Scottish Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt held in Seville, where fans of both teams staged a pitched battle in the middle of the city or one of the most notorious cases at the national level in recent years: the death of Jimmy , a supporter of Deportivo de la Coruña, after a confrontation with Atlético de Madrid supporters on the banks of the Manzanares.

 

Even so, the consumption profile of the “football tourist” follows the same pattern: accommodation in hotels with the greatest number of amenities possible and consumption in shops and venues in the city. A consumption model that leaves a lot of income in the city and which is mainly motivated by the few days that the fan spends in the destination city (as a general rule, a maximum of two nights). In this sense, vacation homes have gained some ground in recent years.

 

The reality is that the world of football tourism (or sports tourism in general) is still largely untapped (at least in the Canary Islands), as fans often seek a "complete package" of experiences related to their weekend visit. In this regard, there are fan zones ; spaces set up hours or days before the match near a stadium with games, music, and food options so fans can soak up the atmosphere. But there are also permanent options such as stadium tours or club museums. The well-known football YouTube channel La Media Inglesa published a video on this topic in which they visited London's main stadiums in a single day.

 

For its part, UD Las Palmas is the Second Division team that draws the largest crowds to its away matches. Furthermore, the club's social media channels frequently feature advertisements and collaborations with the Gran Canaria Tourist Board , playing a key role in promoting Gran Canaria as a tourist destination.