With this action, the Gran Canaria Island Council is finalising its participation in the International Fair of Madrid, Fitur 2025, which will take place between 22 and 26 January.
Managing director Pablo Llinares says that the island destination will close the year with around 4,7 million clients and an increase in tourist client spending on the island.
Specialists highlight connectivity and a better complementary offer on the island to explain the keys to a market that increases its presence by 5% on the island, without reaching the figures of 2019
“The domestic tourism market in Gran Canaria is recovering its vital signs in terms of volume, with a 5% increase in arrivals from the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, without yet counting the data for the month of December, and exceeding all previous records in turnover, with an increase of 5,24%, and an expenditure that stands at 803,41 euros per trip and 142,24 euros per day. The managing director of Gran Canaria Tourism, Pablo Llinares, announced that the island destination will close the year 2024 with approximately 4,7 million tourists, and with a higher record than that of 2023 in its turnover, so it points to being the highest in history.
These were some of the new features and statistics from the presentation and analysis of the markets of clients with Spanish, Italian and Portuguese nationality held by Turismo de Gran Canaria on Tuesday, January 14. The event aimed at the professional sector, which took place at the Centro Insular de Turismo, in Playa del Inglés, addressed from a technical perspective the data of several markets of great interest to the sector. Turismo de Gran Canaria is thus preparing its participation in the next edition of the International Fair of Madrid, Fitur 2025, which will take place between January 22 and 26. The event, in front of fifty professionals from the sector, began with an introduction by the managing director of Turismo de Gran Canaria, Pablo Llinares, and the intervention of Saro Arencibia, as head of Tourism Promotion, and Silvia Donatiello, as delegate of Turismo de Gran Canaria in Italy. In the second part, dedicated to the national market, it was the technicians Francis Ajeno and Valentín González, together with Lorena López Molina, Promotion technicians, who addressed the variety of statistical information and reports that the entity of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria makes available to professionals through its website (https://www.grancanaria.com/turismo/es/area-profesional/).
Llinares explained that the evolution of the national market shows a “clear” line of recovery after the Covid episode, “with a positive behavior in spending as well.” He explained that “our priority is not so much to recover the previous volume but to increase customer spending and turnover and that is something that is currently happening, with an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.” The managing director pointed out a similar behavior in the Italian client, “since we are going to close the year with 140.000 visitors of this nationality, an increase of more than 25% in volume and a much higher turnover compared to 2019.”
Pending the official statistics for December (an Aena passenger preview has been released) and the end of the year, Gran Canaria has received 4.217.238 tourist clients, with a variation with respect to 2023 of 8,82%. In relation to the national market, the number of visitors is 516.537 tourists from the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, with an increase of 4,39% in relation to the figure for 2023. In the comparison with 2019, that is, before the pandemic, the number of national visitors is 9% lower. Among some of the factors presented in the presentation, it appears that the number of trips made by Spaniards has increased by 1,26% compared to the previous year, however Spaniards travel less than before the pandemic, -4,76%. Holiday movements within Spain have fallen by 5,95%. The technicians explained that this does not imply a loss of occupancy, since the good performance of other markets, many at their historical maximum, has occupied those beds, for an occupancy that is close to 90% in recent months.
Regarding national tourist spending and turnover, these have increased by 5,24% in the last year. The share or percentage of national tourists in Gran Canaria has dropped by 30% compared to 2019. However, spending per national tourist in 2019 was 676,33 euros per trip. Now, in 2024, it is 803,41 euros, therefore it has increased by 18,79% compared to 2019 and 3,26% in the year-on-year comparison. Per day it has also increased. In this case by 22,26% compared to 2019, with 142,24 euros per national tourist per day in the first three quarters of 2024, compared to 116,34 in 2019. The technicians highlighted that this increase is much higher than the inflation values in Spain. The experts highlighted the value of the leisure and activities and experiences on offer. “It is important to offer new things and a variety of activities. The more there is on offer, the more profitability and higher turnover,” the experts pointed out.
The experts from the department were optimistic in the sense that by 2025 a downward trend in inflation and a GDP growth of 2,3% are expected. The key for the Gran Canaria Tourism specialists is in the improvement of the destination and the product offered, together with the new segments of the island's offer, such as the gastronomic product, that related to active tourism and that based on offering experiences. In addition, the experts presented a historic connectivity. Gran Canaria is directly connected to 26 national airports. There are only three that do not operate. The Island will have new connections in 2025 with cities such as Badajoz, Valencia, Almería or Córdoba. However, the number of places to travel to Gran Canaria has practically doubled since 2019, which makes it more convenient to fly to the destination from an airport closer to the place of origin.
Among the new developments in the analysis offered, the most notable was 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 counting 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 the area around Las Canteras beach. They also pointed out that the tourist escalation, especially intense in the last decade, in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria continues, both in number of tourists and in the number of places, 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.
Italy and Portugal
In relation to the Italian market, similar trends were observed, with an increase in volume and turnover. Up to November, 115.746 Italian clients arrived on the island, 9,11% more than in 2023 and also higher than the approximately 100.000 in 2019. This is a different type of client, with a notable presence of resident relatives and friends. This means that the type of accommodation is more distributed, with a greater presence of those who stay in their own home, borrowed or visiting Italian residents. The Italian client stays in four-star hotels for 20% of the time, compared to the majority of markets with 40%. “But they move around a lot, they do tourism all over the island and generate economy, despite being different,” said the two Gran Canaria Tourism technicians.
“We are in the best moment of the Italian market, that is without a doubt,” said Saro Arencibia and Silvia Donatiello. Among the promotional keys, they pointed out that the belief that Gran Canaria is only sun and beach has ended. “Now they come with greater motivations, such as gastronomy, culture, nature, leisure, etc. For the Italian, we are now a more complete destination and the client who comes in search of sports options stands out, with a strong hold on the offer linked to cycle tourism,” they explained. Among other issues, the increase in the days of stay stands out, which has gone from 9 to 12 days.
Finally, the current situation of the Portuguese market was addressed, which is also at its highest level ever. The technicians highlighted the growth of Lisbon airport, a strategic hub for many other nationalities. The cumulative total for 2024 shows the visit of 50.428 Portuguese. 2023 ended with 57.706 Portuguese tourists, so the sum for December will place this year in similar terms. 48% of repeaters and 11% have been there more than 10 times. The technicians, who point to a return of Spanish tour operator companies to this market, explained that "the aim is to recover a significant flow of tourists from Madeira, who previously came to look for leisure and shopping. This has evolved in their own destination, but we understand that it can be recovered."
