The president of the Cabildo, Antonio Morales and the Minister of Tourism, Carlos Álamo, lead the Gran Canaria Tourism delegation, which lands at the main tourist fair in Spain with 63 professional meetings
Morales and Álamo highlighted the good moment of the destination with an economic record in terms of billing and income from accommodation quantified at 1.448.673.844 euros, 20% more than in 2019
A Gran Canaria Tourism delegation participates this week in the Madrid International Fair, Fitur 2024, which opens this Wednesday, January 24, with the aim of consolidating the good moment of the sector, the increase in the level of spending of national tourists and the increase in billing. The island destination is presented at the most relevant event in the sector in Spain with an increase in the number of passengers of 12,5% compared to 2022 and an increase in national customer spending per tourist per day of 3,88%, in addition to a historic connectivity, with direct routes with 23 cities and 1.731.945 seats scheduled between January and October, which represents 17% more compared to what was offered in fiscal year 2023.
“This is a very important appointment for us. We have just closed a season that is already among the best in history, not only with a consolidated recovery but also as one of the best years in volume and turnover,” said the president of the Cabildo, Antonio Morales, among whom the record stood out. historic in relation to accommodation income, with 1.448.673.844 euros billed, 20% more than in 2019 and also above the records of 2017, which marked the maximum in billing with 1.256.489.284 euros.
Regarding the arrival statistics of national clients, counselor Carlos Álamo explained that the data corresponding to the month of December has yet to be received, but he is confident of closing the 2022 financial year close to 4,5 million clients. Regarding the national market, the accumulated data between January and November points to the arrival of 494.811 passengers, with an increase of 12,5% compared to last year and 5% compared to 2019. “December was a good end to the year and we believe that we can be close to 550.000 national passengers. Anything above 500.000 is positive," Álamo said, before adding: "The process of market diversification gives us a destination with more guarantees, since the spaces left by a market are occupied by other clients of other nationalities, since many are now at historical highs, and all this benefits the sector with hotels practically full and an increase in turnover, which is also at its historical maximum."
The national tourist was the first to respond after confinement and became Gran Canaria's number one customer, for the first time in its history, in the summer of 2021, surpassing the arrival of foreigners. After this, the presence of national clients in Gran Canaria totaled approximately 512.000 visitors in 2022 and between January and November 2023, there were 494.811 passengers from the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands who landed at the Gran Canaria Airport. Expectations indicate that the year will end positively, with 1,5 percentage points more compared to 2022. The increase in clients between 2021 and 2023 is 39,77%. In 2019, there were 650.000 national clients. Carlos Álamo indicated that the tourist arrival data compared to 2019 has been offset by the notable increase in the presence of clients from other markets, through the commitment made to diversify them.
“We have been able to reduce our dependence on the main markets and thereby ensure the volume of reservations and places, since nothing happens, because other tourists will occupy the place. The important thing is that these hotel seats and beds are not left empty and they are not doing so. Success in the diversification process strengthens us and adds resilience, because although we have had problems with basic markets such as the German or Nordic markets, we have not stopped growing," clarified the councilor of the Gran Canaria Council.
Germans and Nordics represented 50% of the total tourist clients in Gran Canaria in 2019, currently they represent 43%. There are other important examples, such as the French one, which has increased its presence by 63,6% compared to 2019, with 38,500 more clients per year. Also growing are the British (15%), the Swedes (23%), Irish (30%), Italians (8,1%), Poles (20%) or Portuguese (22%), among others. In total, Gran Canaria grows in 15 markets, out of 18 counted, compared to 2022. In addition, we have an increase of 12% in the number of domestic passengers compared to 2022 and 5% more than in 2019.
Among the concerns of Gran Canaria Tourism is the increase in competition in the summer period, together with the increase in prices and the loss of customer spending capacity through inflation. “The national customer has more alternatives in summer at a lower cost within the peninsular territory, avoiding the plane, with rural or beach tourism destinations at a shorter distance. This is something that makes reservations difficult. For this reason, we are finalizing the details for a specific and powerful campaign to make ourselves more visible and attractive to the national client and try to ensure that these summer places are occupied by Spanish clients to a greater extent,” announced Carlos Álamo.
The Minister of Tourism of Gran Canaria explained that Gran Canaria also has historical connectivity with 220 direct flights to or from 24 airports in Spain and that it incorporates two new features: such as the flight to Bilbao that Volotea will carry out and the incorporation of Madrid to the flight program of the Binter Canarias company.
The key to success in attracting the national customer, for the Tourism Minister of Gran Canaria, is in the improvement of 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 that are based on offering experiences.
In the profile of the national customer, common features of recent years remain, such as a greater presence of travelers from the Community of Madrid, which represents 40% of the total. The following are Galicians, with 12%, Andalusians, with 10,74% and Catalan clients, which are equivalent to 8,38% of the total. Also noteworthy is the increase, by 8 percentage points, in national visitors in Mogán, to account for 15% of the total, and an increase of 7,6% in the rest of Gran Canaria, without accounting for the southern tourist area. 38,77% choose Playa del Inglés and San Agustín to stay, these areas of the South of Gran Canaria being the most visited on the Island; 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.
