Gran Canaria seeks to consolidate its leadership among German customers at ITB Berlin

 

Gran Canaria is present this week, once again this year through a delegation from the Department of Tourism of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, at the ITB fair in Berlin, one of the leading professional events for the sector, and it does so at a time when the German client has recovered its leadership position in the island destination, being the visitor who generates the most performance by being the one who invoices the most and the second in volume of arrivals in the year 2024. The Gran Canaria delegation, headed by the Minister of Tourism Carlos Álamo, attends the fair with 42 professional meetings on its agenda, with an increase in the number of places and connectivity for the summer, the renewal of its complementary, sustainable offer linked to sport and active tourism, as keys to consolidating the path of recovery that led to the recovery of almost 100.000 German clients in the last year.

 

“It seems that we have left behind the years of uncertainty, which have been somewhat turbulent for the German economy, with a call for restraint by the government due to the energy and economic crises and they are once again choosing Gran Canaria to spend their holidays, especially during the winter season,” explained Carlos Álamo, before pointing out that this recovery is “especially valuable when this market has not yet recovered the volume of departures compared to 2019, that is, in comparison with the year before the pandemic. Germans travel 10% less and yet Gran Canaria has grown 3% compared to this pre-Covid reference and it does so by spending much more than it did before Covid.” 

 

 

In terms of turnover, German customers are the ones who contribute the most to the total sum of the Gran Canaria destination with 1.360.188.261,20 euros invoiced in the 2024 financial year, which implies an increase of 17,34% compared to 2023. In this category, they are followed by customers from the Nordic countries, with 1.292.605.417,10 euros, not far behind customers from the United Kingdom, who contributed 1.239.498.215 euros. Meanwhile, the presence of Germans has increased by 70% in the last financial year. Gran Canaria received 10,18 German customers in 903.023, being the second client after the British. The figure for the last financial year is the fourth largest in the historical series of the island sector, only surpassed by the 2024-2016 series. The record number of German visitors remains that of 2018, with 2018 arrivals.

 

“Gran Canaria has led the statistics for customer spending at a regional level in six of the last seven years and we are also committed to ensuring that this tourism, and the income it generates for the economy, is spread throughout the island. Not only in the tourist area, but also that the rest of the municipalities benefit from tourist spending and this is something that is already happening because if we eliminate the data from the main tourist areas in the south of Gran Canaria, tourist income in the rest of the island has grown by 66,37% in the comparison between 2024 and 2019,” said Álamo.

 

The average stay of German clients is 11,8 days, higher than the average of 10,43 days, the highest in the Archipelago. In addition, the expenditure per person and trip in the German market is 1.731 euros, with an increase of 7,85% over 2023. Another notable fact is the fact that the contracting of all-inclusive packages has dropped to a value of 27,26%, when the previous year it was 32,31%. At the same time, this increases the percentage of clients with accommodation with breakfast, from 25,62% in 2023 to 30,25% in 2024. 

 

The fundamental fact for the Minister of Tourism is the appreciation of the complementary product to sun and beach, which is rising in the statistics. “If you analyse the data, you can see how we have returned to the good numbers of the period before the pandemic, but we have incorporated and valued resources and products from the island that have increased turnover to values ​​much higher than inflation in recent years. I am referring to gastronomy, the offer linked to active and sports tourism, visits to the summit, to the interior or to the municipalities of the north, among other factors that are also key to boosting employment like never before in our territory,” said Álamo.

 

The councillor highlighted a five-point drop in the number of all-inclusive package deals, which has a positive impact on the island's business performance. “A few years ago, in the early 2000s, no German, British or Nordic person would have thought of Gran Canaria as a mountain destination. Back then, we were just sun and beach. Now, the mountains are one of our main strengths. For example, this year we received the award for the best mountain destination in China. It is something in which we have enormous potential to explore and which places us as a privileged destination in Europe for its nature, botany and landscape. In another order, surveys indicate that 35% of Germans who visit us are especially interested in enjoying Gran Canarian cuisine and have it among their holiday priorities. It is something that we did not have a few decades ago either. This means that, on the one hand, we are adding tools and potential that help us to face the challenge of relocation, so that clients are spread across the island, and also a significant increase in turnover, with a clear effect on the economies of Gran Canarians in all municipalities." Álamo pointed out that in 2018, the year with the highest arrival of German tourists with 978.759 German clients, the island invoiced 1.171 euros and in 2024 with 75.727 fewer clients, 1.360 million were invoiced.

 

Among the new features of the Berlin event is a new record in connectivity. During the current year, Gran Canaria will be connected to 15 German airports directly and has seen a 28% increase in tourist places planned for the summer. 

 

Now, in Berlin, we hope to confirm the positive trend of this market for 2025. In this sense we are positive. Connectivity is growing significantly, which is a good indicator. In addition, our experts point out that a 6% increase in travel revenue is expected with the same number of travellers and they also highlight that early bookings for next summer have multiplied since November. Therefore, we hope that this can be consolidated with the meetings and gatherings planned at the ITB with agents and companies in the German market. We are going to continue betting on the strategy of sustainable and moderate growth, which prioritizes revenue over the number of visitors. The German customer is a greater spending and revenue capacity, it is a priority for our industry and we will continue betting on promoting our complementary offer to add to the traditional tourist product and continue to increase revenue with a similar number of tourists,” concluded Álamo.