International air transport from the Canary Islands and air travel with the Iberian Peninsula accounted for 78% of the distribution of the carbon footprint of the tourism sector in the islands in 2021. This is revealed by data from the Canary Islands Tourism Observatory in the report Tourism Sustainability in the Canary Islands.
Specifically, air transport in the Archipelago generated a total of 5.84 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2023. This figure only decreased to 2.68 million tons in the year of confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic and to 3.22 in 2021, when health restrictions were still in place.
Of this carbon footprint, hotel and non-hotel accommodations account for 8% of the total, followed by general expenses (5%) and local transportation expenses (5%).
To a lesser extent, cruise tourism already accounts for 4% of the total volume of greenhouse gases produced by economic activity on the islands.
