Lanzarote has lost about 450 companies in a year, which is almost one in ten. According to data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics collected by the Cabildo Data Center, there were more than 5,000 companies on the island throughout 2019, but this number dropped drastically last March, coinciding with the declaration of the state of alarm due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At that time, the number of registered companies became 4,530 and in May there was a slight further drop, to 4,471. Afterwards, small increases were recorded for the next four months, closing September with 4,600 companies on the island. However, in October it fell again to 4,584.
Most of that disappearance of companies has been concentrated in the services sector, although there are also fewer in construction than at the end of 2019 (388 compared to 403 a year ago). As for the services sector, the bulk is concentrated in the hospitality sector, with more than a hundred fewer companies, and also in the category of wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Last October there were 986 in that sector, compared to the 1,100 there were in December 2019. And there are also 128 fewer transport and storage companies, leaving only 318 in October.
As for the rest of the Canary Islands, companies have also disappeared but to a lesser extent. By islands, the most affected is Lanzarote, followed closely only by Fuerteventura. In both, the fall exceeds 9% of the total, while the Canary Islands average is 5.9%. In the case of Gran Canaria, the disappearance of companies reaches 4.1% and in Tenerife 6.2%.