The departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union has not affected the arrival of British tourists to Lanzarote, contrary to what companies such as Ryanair predicted. According to the company, that was the reason why they decided to withdraw their bases from the island and from all of the Canary Islands two years ago, and now they do not rule out returning.
The year Brexit was approved, the island received 124,474 British tourists in July; in July 2019 - half a year before it came into effect - there were 121,462; and last month 124,049 visitors from that country arrived in Lanzarote, with very similar figures, even to those prior to the pandemic.
In this regard, the spokesperson for Ryanair Spain and Portugal, Elena Cabrera, states that at the time they thought "that it was going to affect much more in terms of operations" and that "the volume and capacity was going to drop a lot".
"The reason for closing it was commercial, and if we reopen it, it will be for something commercial. We operate a lot in the Canary Islands, it is a very important region. We are operating more than in 2019. The Canary Islands is a destination that sells itself and works all year round. Therefore, it would make sense to reopen the bases," says the company's spokesperson.
"We operate in 28 airports and have 10 bases. If we were interested in opening more bases, the ones that would make the most sense to be the next ones would be in the Canary Islands," adds Elena Cabrera.
