The Canary Islands economy continues to grow strongly, driven by tourism, to the point that GDP registered a year-on-year increase of 9% in the second quarter of the year and has chained five consecutive quarters of strength, although this will predictably be weighed down by inflation in 2023. In July of this year, inflation stood at 9.4%, the highest since 1985 and far from the 0.4% inflation in 2021.
The Economic Situation Bulletin, presented this Friday by the Tenerife Chamber of Commerce, confirms an economic growth of the Canary Islands of 9%, above the national average, which reaches 6.4%. Business confidence is also growing in the archipelago, although there is a certain tendency towards deceleration. Inflation is particularly worrying, at 9.4%, but, above all, underlying inflation (without taking into account energy and food prices), which has reached 5.9%.
Except for inflation, all indicators are positive
The document highlights that sales in the commercial sector increased by 10.6% and the registration of passenger cars increased by 40.2% compared to the same period of 2021, with 15,429, which contrasts with the decrease of 8.2% at the national level.
The transport of goods by air registered an annual increase of 12.7% in the Canary Islands and 5.8% at the national level, and the goods transported by sea were 3.6% higher than those of the same period of 2021 in the islands, while they increased by 8.9% at the national level. Regarding industrial production, annual growth accelerated to 6.8 percent, 2.5 points more than the national figure due to the production of non-durable consumer goods.
The Tenerife Chamber of Commerce also highlights the significant reactivation in hotel activity in the Canary Islands, both by national travelers (75.3%), who have already exceeded pre-pandemic figures, and by foreigners, which increased by 488.1%, with 2,894,252 tourists. The number of visitors is still 1.1% below those registered in the same period of 2019, although visitors now spend more per person per day. Therefore, in April and May there was an increase in turnover of 51.3% and in 7.5% in personnel employed in the services sector.
