Sport has become a strategic sector for the Canary Islands, with a contribution that reaches 4.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the islands and an economic impact that exceeds 5.7 billion euros. Furthermore, more than half of the population practices physical exercise weekly and the archipelago has more than 211,000 registered athletes.
In this context, the Canary Islands Physical Activity and Sport Fair, which will celebrate its third edition from November 12 to 15 at the Plaza de la Música, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, will once again become a meeting point for the main players in the sector. In addition to its exhibition offer and a broad program for practicing and enjoying sports, ExpoDeca 2026 will bring together brands, companies, experts, public managers, and entrepreneurs.
One of the main indicators of the sector's growth in the Canary Islands is the increase in physical exercise among citizens. 52% of the Canary Islands population plays sports regularly every week, a percentage that coincides with the national average.
There are currently 61 sports federations in the islands, with a total of 211,671 registered athletes corresponding to athletes who compete with their clubs or individually.
These are some of the data collected in the latest study on the socioeconomic impact of the sports industry in the Canary Islands published by the Canary Islands Sports Industry Cluster, which also analyzes the economic dimension of the sector.
Around this reality, some 2,600 companies in the Canary Islands operate, linked, in one way or another, to sport, according to the aforementioned study. In relative terms, they represent 1.4% of the total registered companies in the archipelago.
The sports sector generates annually 2,586 of the 58,100 million euros that constitute the Gross Domestic Product of the Canary Islands, which represents 4.45% of the islands' GDP. If the perspective on the sector's relevance is broadened, its indirect impact reaches 5.742 billion euros.
Within this volume, 1.962 million correspond to private companies, 312 million to federations and clubs, 220 million to public administrations, and 92 million related to sports education.
Impacts are also included in areas such as hospitality, accommodation, sports tourism, commerce, transport, or physiotherapy services, in addition to other complementary activities developed by small businesses and self-employed individuals.
Directly, the sports industry generated ten jobs per million euros of GDP in the Canary Islands in 2024, with special incidence in youth and female employment. Globally, the sector generated 55,431 jobs, to which another twenty thousand induced jobs in related activities are added, raising the total figure to over 66,000.
This economic growth also has repercussions on public coffers, which collect almost 1.7 billion euros annually in taxes linked to the sector's activities, taking into account the General Indirect Canary Tax (IGIC), Social Security, Personal Income Tax (IRPF), and other taxes. IGIC alone collects 390 million euros per year.
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