Lanzarote led the growth in the influx of tourists to the Canary Islands during the first quarter of 2019 in relation to the same period last year, accounting for an increase of 4.2%, according to data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC). It was, together with Tenerife (2.6% more), the only island in the Archipelago to register an increase in the influx of tourists between January and April.
The Cabildo highlights the increase of 27.1% in the arrival of peninsular tourists in the first four months of the year, a figure that rose to 33.7% in April, in both cases the highest recorded in the most touristy islands of the Canary Islands. Lanzarote also led the increase in tourist influx in April, with a 2.3% increase compared to a 0.3% drop in the Archipelago as a whole.
The institution states that the leadership shown by the island during the first quarter of 2019 also stands out both in the increase in the arrival of German tourists with 9.6% more -compared to a general decrease in the rest of the Archipelago with the exception of Gran Canaria- and in the influx of tourists from the United Kingdom with an increase of 5.3%.
"The strength shown by the island's tourism sector in a more complex period than in previous years in the two main issuing markets for the island, such as the British and German", and underlines "the notable rebound recorded in the influx of national tourism, which registers the highest spending during their holidays on the island", has highlighted the acting Minister of Tourism Promotion of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Ángel Vázquez.
Leader in tourist spending
According to Vázquez, "these data support the work of the Sociedad de Promoción Exterior de Lanzarote SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote, which maintains close ties with the main national and international tour operators and carries out continuous promotional actions, focusing on the segmentation of the attractions offered by the island and on the qualification of the destination, in order to attract tourists with high purchasing power". In this sense, he recalls that the island led tourist spending in the Canary Islands for the first time in 2018, which he considers "indicates the success of the promotional policies" that the institution is carrying out.
In total, between January and April 2019, 972,600 tourists visited Lanzarote, of which 465,802 came from the United Kingdom, 116,290 from Germany and 79,450 from the rest of the Spanish territory. Also noteworthy in the first quarter of the year were the increases of 6.4% and 6% in the arrival of tourists from Ireland (third issuing country with 86,961 tourists) and France (fifth, with 55,601), respectively.
As for the type of accommodation chosen during their stay on the island, 71.8% of the tourists who visited Lanzarote during the first four months of the year chose to stay in a hotel and 10.2% in rental accommodation. 58.5% contracted a tourist package at origin to enjoy their holidays on the island.
