The World Travel Market (WTM) in London, traditionally an epicenter of announcements and high visibility for the Canary Islands' tourism elite, has shown a notable decentralization of the archipelago's top business leaders in its 2025 edition. Unlike previous years, where the coordinated presence of the business leadership monopolized the headlines, the communication strategy has leaned towards institutional management and the celebration of specific corporate successes, relegating joint statements from business leaders to a secondary role. From southern Gran Canaria, three local authorities were present: representatives from Maspalomas and Mogán.
Attention has focused on the operational results and expansions of major chains, such as Lopesan's ambitious global rollout in Punta Cana and Madrid, and the recognition given to Servatur for its partnership with LoveHolidays. These announcements, representing significant investments, have set the agenda, prioritizing corporate strength over industry representation. There was no presence of business leaders from Gran Canaria, but the Tenerife employers' association presented a unified message at WTM. The central government sent the head of the State Secretariat for Tourism.
This more discreet profile could be interpreted in several ways. First, it may reflect greater maturity in the sector, where direct operational dialogue between major airlines and individual hoteliers (such as Jet2 or easyJet) has gained more traction than collective institutional pressure. Second, recent political tensions and power restructuring in key bodies, such as the potential renewal of positions of power in Gran Canaria, may have encouraged business leaders to maintain a low profile, avoiding mixing the purely commercial agenda of WTM with the island's governance adjustments.
Leadership in London has largely fallen to political representatives, who have been responsible for presenting the figures and the strategy for reducing the seasonality of the British market. This shift suggests that, although business leaders are the true drivers of investment, they have ceded media prominence and the strategic narrative to the government in this key forum, maintaining their influence through discreet back-office negotiations and letting connectivity and occupancy figures speak for themselves. Forecast figures for Gran Canaria indicate that easyJet UK is leading the year-on-year growth with a 22% increase in capacity for the winter, followed by British Airways with a 27,31% increase. Jet2.com Limited also experienced solid growth of 3,44%. Only Ryanair (-0,45%) and TUI Airways (-3,23%) declined.
