The Lanzarote delegation present at the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur) 2019, headed by the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés (CC), and the island councilor for Tourism Promotion, Ángel Vázquez, culminated this Thursday the second day of work at the IFEMA fairgrounds with "good news and encouraging prospects" in relation to both the national and British markets for this year.
In relation to Spanish tourism, firstly, it is stated that the airline Vueling has announced that it will open a new route with Lanzarote from Valencia starting in May and will also increase to eight the weekly frequencies with Barcelona, compared to the seven it currently has, while Iberia Express will increase air seat reservations with Lanzarote by 15% in 2019 compared to last year.
On the other hand, Travelplan, one of the most important tour operators at the national level belonging to the Globalia Group, will also resume the sale of its Lanzarote tourism products and packages with the city of Barcelona for the summer. In relation to last year, Soltour will establish two more flights, one with Bilbao and another with Vitoria, during Holy Week and Easter, a week later, with which it will make available a total of four flights on these dates that will connect the island with both Basque cities.
Likewise, the island promotion entity will shortly sign an agreement with Tourmundial, a wholesaler belonging to Viajes El Corte Inglés, through which, in addition to its own channel, it will distribute its tourist packages through several retail travel agents with a large presence in the national territory.
"Hopeful expectations" of national tourism
The team of the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society (SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote), led by its CEO, Héctor Fernández, has held more than twenty meetings and has devoted "a large part" of its efforts during the course of this fair "to strengthening Spanish tourism, one of the most strategic markets for the island, due to its level of spending and harmony with the destination. "These are therefore hopeful expectations," it is pointed out
"Considering that Lanzarote does not aspire to increase the number of tourists, but should aspire to be visited by good clients, who are interested in the island and who consume in the destination, we are very satisfied because Spanish tourism responds to this profile," said the president of the Cabildo,
For his part, the Councilor for Tourism Promotion, Ángel Vázquez, stated that "everything announced by operators and airlines will help push tourist packages towards Lanzarote, which, together with the increase in air connectivity with the Peninsula, we trust will contribute to reinforcing the upward trend that Spanish tourism has been showing."
In this regard, it is pointed out that, between January and November 2018. Lanzarote received a total of 235,390 tourists from the Peninsula, compared to 224,161 who came in the same period of 2017, which represented a 5% increase in percentage terms, according to data from Promotur-Frontur.
Positive forecasts for the British market despite Brexit
Another of the "good news" of this fair according to the Cabildo is that, "despite the uncertainty of Brexit, a positive behavior of the British market is anticipated."
The heads of Jet2, who held a working breakfast with the team of the island promotion entity first thing this Thursday and announced that this company has increased its reservation of air seats with Lanzarote by 14% for next summer and 13% for the winter season. With this increase, the British airline becomes the first company in importance for the island in relation to this market.
Innovation, technology and tourism intelligence
In parallel, on the one hand, sustainability, with the presence also of Turismo Lanzarote in the annual meeting of the Biosphere Destinations Community, and on the other, technology, have been two of the central axes that have marked the agenda of SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote in this 39th edition of Fitur.
In fact, among the agreements reached by the island promotion entity is the one signed with the company Mabrian Technologies (big data platform for intelligent destinations), "which represents a qualitative step of great strategic importance, since it will allow SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote to have a source of information of great value not only for tourism activity, but in order to optimize the design and planning of promotion strategies based on tools of the so-called Tourism Intelligence", it is highlighted from the Cabildo.
"Today it is essential to have the use of technology and big data in marketing strategies, because these must be based on the exhaustive knowledge of where our potential tourists are and who they are, what tastes and buying behavior they have, while we need to know precisely and specifically how they value the products we offer, sports, gastronomic or sustainable tourism, among others, in addition to applying technological innovation is currently essential to know the demands and improve the tourist experiences offered by Lanzarote", said Ángel Vázquez.
Digital marketing and commitment to online sales
In this same line, within the parallel activities that take place outside the meetings scheduled on the agenda, SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote attended in this second day of Fitur the presentation entitled 'Digital marketing for destinations. Key factor of the tourist competitiveness of regions' and will attend tomorrow this Friday, January 25 to the presentation offered by the FiturtechYdestino Forum under the title 'Alchemy-The marketing and promotion strategies to generate emotions in audiences saturated with impacts'.
Also highlighted is the commitment that SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote continues to make to the online marketing of our destination. In this sense, the meetings held with Atrapalo.com or Destinia.com stand out, one of the largest Spanish OTAs (Online Travel Agencies). Within this objective, it is recalled that the SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote team also held meetings on Tuesday 22 in Madrid with Logitravel and the digital platform Minube, considered the most important travel social network in Spain, thus advancing by one day its work agenda prior to Fitur.
Dublin Fair
Also, after finishing at noon this second day of work at the Madrid Fair, the Councilor for Tourism Promotion of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Ángel Vázquez, together with a delegation from the island promotion entity, will travel to Dublin, where they will participate in the Holiday World Show, the largest Tourism Fair in the Country of the Clover, which is held between the 25th and 27th in the Irish capital, and where they plan to hold an on-site meeting with the head of Routes of the airline Ryanair, one of those that monopolizes the most number of frequencies and destinations between Lanzarote with the United Kingdom and Europe, in order to directly address the connectivity plans that this low cost airline contemplates for 2019 with the island.
Turismo Lanzarote affirms that it is "very aware of everything that surrounds the uncertain situation around Brexit to address the possible scenarios that it could have for connectivity with the British market, of extraordinary importance for the island since it occupies around 50% of the total tourists who arrive in Lanzarote".