The specialists from the Council of Gran Canaria point out that, in the absence of knowing the definitive data, the island destination will end the 2023 financial year with an increase of 1,5% in the number of visitors from the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
The event took place in the Bandama room in Infecar with the presence of 54 professionals from the sector and serves to prepare the presence of Gran Canaria at the Fitur 2024 event.
Gran Canaria Tourism is preparing its imminent participation in the next edition of the Madrid International Fair, Fitur 2024, which will take place between January 24 and 28; and, as is usual before large international fairs, it offered in the Bandama Room of Infecar a technical analysis for professionals in the sector on a national market, which in the case of Gran Canaria, equals the arrival numbers of 2019, with a increase in billing, in a complex scenario due to inflation and price increases.
The manager of Tourism of Gran Canaria, Pablo Llinares, explained to fifty attendees that in the absence of knowing the final data for the last month of the year and the consequent closing of the year, the island tourist destination has received a 1,5 this year % more visitors from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. The accumulated number for 2023, between January and November, is 494.811 clients, 3% less compared to 2022 (551.209), which will be reversed, according to specialists, with the December contribution. The number of domestic passengers, according to Istac data, has grown by 13% in the last year and 15% compared to 2019.
“The hotels have high occupancy rates and we ended the year with around 4,5 million clients, an important figure that puts us in the best years in terms of the volume of tourist arrivals. Once this milestone has been achieved, our commitment is aimed at growing and advancing the quality of our visitors, with a higher spending customer and that this is better distributed throughout the island. We are not obsessed with the number of tourists, which we understand has a limit, but rather we look for the client who leaves the hotel, who gets to know us, who buys and spends on gastronomy. Our bet is not so much on the quantitative but on the qualitative, with the aim of increasing billing and general income as we are doing,” explained Pablo Llinares.
The event included the presentation and analysis of Valentín González, responsible for Tourism Promotion for the national and Portuguese market of Gran Canaria Tourism; Pino León, head of the Tourism Promotion section; and Francis Ajeno, Delegate of Gran Canaria in the national and Portuguese market. In addition, the event was attended by Binter, through Daniel Rosales, area manager for Spain and Portugal, who shared the development and perspectives of the airline and its expansion process throughout the peninsular territory.
The ministry's technicians were optimistic that by 2024 a downward trend in inflation and price increases that have weighed down the destination in recent years is expected, along with a growth of 1,7% in the GDP. Eduardo Reyes, data specialist, explained that the national client has alternatives in the summer season, whether in the nearest rural or beach tourism. While we are full in winter, it is our high season and prices go up. “Even so we are growing,” he said.
The key for Gran Canaria Tourism specialists is in improving the destination and the product offered, together with the new segments of the island's offer, such as gastronomic products, those related to active tourism and those based on offer experiences. “We are working hard on the complementary offer, because we understand that it is where the key to competitiveness is,” these specialists explained.
Among the novelties of the analysis offered, the increase, by 8 percentage points, of national visitors in Mogán, to account for 15% of the total, and an increase of 7,6% in the rest of Gran Canaria, without taking into account the tourist area of the South. 38,77% choose Playa del Inglés and San Agustín to stay; 22% do so in Maspalomas and 16% in Las Canteras. They also pointed out that the tourist escalation continues, especially intense in the last decade, in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, both in number of tourists and in the number of beds, progressively increasing its accommodation capacity.
A significant fact, as a novelty, is that studies indicate that 27,25% of visitors stay in the homes of friends or family, while 60% do so in hotels. Most of these tourists schedule their stay outside of the tourist packages and have an average stay of about 8 days. The national tourist's expenditure currently is 778 euros per trip and 135,94 euros per day.
