“We have increased our level of income in a notable way without having to resort to an increase in the number of visitors and this must be the objective of an island and a society that wants to present itself to the world with the values of tourism sustainability” , noted the Minister of Tourism of Gran Canaria
The Exceltur tourism alliance has included two municipalities in Gran Canaria among the 15 most relevant for tourism in all of Spain in its Municipal Atlas of the Social Contribution of Tourism in Spain. In this ranking of the main national destinations, the fourth position of San Bartolomé de Tirajana stands out, the first tourist municipality in the Canary Islands according to this classification, which is ordered by the tourist accommodation places it has, as well as the number of professionals employed and their contribution. social. Mogán occupies the fifteenth position.
The national classification, with information on 500 national tourist destinations, is led by Madrid, followed by Barcelona, Benidorm (Alicante), San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria), and Salou (Tarragona). In this top five included in the Exceltur report, a non-profit association made up of 33 of the most relevant companies in the entire tourism value chain, San Bartolomé de Tirajana has 89.163 tourist accommodation places. The total number of places is divided into 50% of places in hotels, 33,8% in apartments and road tourism, and the remaining 15,4% in places for renting housing for tourist use. In addition, it employs 21.230 people.
For its part, Mogán has 41.780 accommodation places. 40,1% are hotel beds, 44% correspond to apartments and 15,9% to homes for tourist use. Mogán's tourism sector employs 7.373 professionals. This municipality in the south of Gran Canaria. Other notable Canarian municipalities are Adeje, in sixth position; Arona, in ninth position; Tías, position 17, Pájara, in 18; and Yaiza in position 23.
The Minister of Tourism of Gran Canaria, Carlos Álamo, pointed out that “it is important that the relevance of our tourist destinations be recognized by the sector's reference”, as well as to value the efforts made by the private and public sectors in the recovery of this industry after the international break. “We have an industry that is dynamic and very alive. We have managed to recover in record time and do so based on social priorities. We have increased our level of income in a notable way without having to resort to a significant increase in the number of visitors, in such a way that with many fewer customers we are earning practically the same as our main competitors and this should be the objective of an island and a society that wants to present itself to the world with the values of tourism sustainability and healthy coexistence with the environment and its population,” explained the counselor.
In this sense, Álamo made reference to the data from the Ashotel report, the tourism association of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which includes an increase in the sector's income of 2023% in the first quarter of 16,21 compared to the same period. than 2019, that is, before the crisis, with 4,66% fewer hosted travelers, when islands like Tenerife have had to accommodate 7,75% more hosted tourist clients to achieve an increase in their turnover of 19.6% . Carlos Álamo pointed out that “in my opinion we must stop being obsessed with numbers and prioritize billing and final income, through attracting a client of higher quality and level of spending, and in this sense we have shown that with fewer clients The same can be achieved and recovery is done through values closer to those that defend social sustainability and environmental conservation.”
The Exceltur Atlas provides information on the relevance and social contribution that tourism generates in the 500 Spanish municipalities with the largest number of regulated market tourist accommodation places. Specifically, the Atlas offers information for these municipalities classified and ordered by urban, coastal and inland destinations on:
- The volume and capacity of the diversity of tourist accommodation supply located in each municipality sold in the markets (hotels, apartments for keys, campsites, rural houses and homes for tourist use), which conditions the dimension of the tourist influx at the local level and the reality and the diversity of services of the cluster of tourist activities that depend on the occupancy levels of said offer.
- The relevance of tourism in the economic and social dynamics of each municipality, under the heading “Territorial tourism specialization”, approximated through what represents the average annual influx of tourists in the municipality over its total population (the most tourism), calculated ad hoc for the project.
- The volume of jobs directly related to tourism, from data on affiliates at the municipal Social Security level, as the main indicator to approximate the social contribution of tourism to the different local societies.
You can consult the full report at: https://www.exceltur.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AtlasMunicipalEspecializacionTuristica.pdf
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