The president of the Tenerife Chamber of Commerce, Santiago Sesé, highlighted the excellent evolution of the labor market in the Canary Islands tourism sector during the third quarter and the existing business confidence in the sector, in the presentation of the sectoral Tourism bulletin prepared by the chamber entity.
The report highlights a growth in the number of tourists and in spending and an "excellent" evolution of the labor market, with registered unemployment at minimum figures and the number of Social Security affiliates practically reaching the highest figure in the historical series used to prepare this bulletin.
According to this bulletin, between the months of July to September, the Canary Islands received a total of 2,993,225 foreign tourists, a figure that represents an increase of 87.7% compared to the same period of the previous year and is very close to the figure for the third quarter of 2019, remaining slightly below (-1%).
According to Sesé, the most immediate challenge is inflation, which will continue to remain above optimal figures for a good part of 2023, directly affecting the spending capacity of the tourists who visit us.
"We believe that 2022 will close with results very close to or higher than those prior to the pandemic and to continue promoting this growth it is important that we are able to respond to the challenges posed by the sector” (Santiago Sesé)
The president of the Tenerife chamber believes that it will be key to position the Archipelago as a first-class destination, where the good climate added to an excellent tourism product is enough for tourists to choose the Canary Islands as their preferred destination. He also proposes that the competent administration ensure that all accommodation operators, both hotels and non-hotels, comply with the same quality requirements.
In terms of job creation, the historical maximum of Social Security affiliates in the hospitality subsector has practically been achieved and Sesé believes that to consolidate this data it is important to improve the training level of the staff, providing them with new skills and training them to solve everyday challenges.
He adds that hospitality companies, when making new hires, are conditioned by the existing collapse on some of the roads, which leads to excessive fuel consumption, or the difficulty that many workers have in finding housing close to their workplace.
The good data from the sector also have a positive impact on the behavior of the labor market throughout the third quarter of the year, with a significant year-on-year increase of 42.5% in the personnel employed in hotel establishments, according to the results of the Survey of Occupation in Tourist Accommodation prepared by the INE.
Year-on-year comparison
If we take into account the accumulated from January to September, the Archipelago received a total of 8,738,887 foreign visitors, a figure that represents a notable increase of 272.1% compared to 2021 due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, but which does not reach the figure for the same period of 2019 (-9.2% difference).
A greater number of foreign tourists who, in addition, have not seen their tourist spending affected in the third quarter of the year, seeing it increased as a result of the increase in visitors and inflation. Thus, compared to the same period of 2021, the variation is 95.3%, a notable growth due to the fact that tourist activity was just beginning to recover after greater control of the pandemic.
Comparing these data with figures from the same quarter prior to the pandemic, that is, the third quarter of 2019, an increase of 6.2% is also observed. At the end of the quarter, the average spending per tourist was positioned at 170€/person/day, this figure being 9.3% more than in the same period of 2021, and 13.3% more if we compare it with the third quarter of 2019.
