On Thursday, March 27, the Councilor for Tourism of the Gran Canaria Island Council, Carlos Álamo, welcomed a group of three senior officials from IMTA, the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, who are on the island to learn about the hotels, facilities, restaurants, and other infrastructure for the various events that will take place in Gran Canaria at the end of May to commemorate World Mountain Tourism Day and the international congress the destination will host.
Representatives of IMTA, an international organization founded in China in 2017 and promoting the sustainable development of mountain tourism globally, protecting fragile ecosystems and improving the quality of life of local communities, expressed their satisfaction with the organization and their enthusiasm for the Gran Canaria event. The delegation present in Gran Canaria is made up of Liu Guosong, director of the Integrated Business Department, and deputy directors Xie Jie and Wang Ying. It is worth noting that the island of Gran Canaria has been designated by the IMTA Congress as the venue for the International Mountain Tourism Day on May 29th.
“Chinese tourism is poised to be one of the main destinations in the immediate future; in fact, they already represent the majority in many international destinations. And for Gran Canaria, it's an emerging market with enormous potential that we must definitely try to capture, and the way we've seen this most feasible is through both cultural appeal and mountain tourism. This designation will allow Gran Canaria to continue gaining notoriety in the Asian country—the largest source of travelers in the world—and attract high-value tourists to the island, travelers increasingly interested in unique and personalized experiences, seeking culture, gastronomy, nature, relaxation, fun, and even the opportunity to learn Spanish and play sports,” explained Councilor Carlos Álamo.
For his part, Liu Guosong explained that IMTA has 206 members from 40 countries and regions across five continents and that the event will bring together around 200 professionals from China and more than 100 from other international destinations. This makes the island the second European destination to host this event, after it was held for the first time outside Asia in Nice, France, in May 2024. “Gran Canaria is not yet well-known in China, but it has the potential to be among the travel options for the Chinese population. This event has been widely publicized in our country through the Chinese media, and this will allow the island to become more well-known in our country. We believe we can bring Gran Canaria as a destination to Chinese tourists.”
Gran Canaria's designation to host International Mountain Tourism Day was announced in the Chinese city of Xingyi, Guizhou province, during the 2024 International Mountain Tourism and Outdoor Sports Conference, held from 26 to 28 September 2024, an event that adds the "2024 International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) Annual Conference".
Within this forum, the awards ceremony was also held for the sites nominated as "World Famous Tourist Mountains," a recognition sponsored by IMTA. At this gala, Gran Canaria was the first to receive the award in the "Cultural Orientation" category, given to the Cultural Landscape of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2019.
The announcement of Gran Canaria as the host of the next International Mountain Tourism Day was made on September 26 by IMTA Vice President and Secretary General He Yafei. Along with the award to Risco Caído, this award is the result of the positioning work carried out in recent years in China by Gran Canaria Tourism. The strategy followed for penetrating this market is particularly relevant given the latest data provided by Turespaña, which shows excellent prospects for the recovery of the Chinese tourism market. Gran Canaria has established itself as one of the main source countries for high-spending tourists, with spending per traveler exceeding €3.000 between January and July 2024, and air connectivity with Spain that has seen a 38% increase in direct flight frequencies from China compared to 2019.
