Canary Islands attends FITUR with an "unstoppable increase in demand for travel to the islands"

The Canary Islands Minister of Tourism said that the archipelago is committed to "tourism that guarantees a longer stay and expenditure at the destination, as well as less dependence on connectivity"

EKN

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EKN

January 13 2023 (15:33 WET)
The Canary Islands Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, and the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo, during the presentation
The Canary Islands Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, and the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo, during the presentation

The Canary Islands will be present at Fitur 2023, which will be held next week, at a time when there is "an unstoppable increase in the demand for travel to the islands" despite the global economic context. This was explained by the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, at the press conference in which she detailed the archipelago's presence at this event.

“The desire to travel is above any condition and we will continue to encourage it through our intense promotional activity and with our special commitment to those tourists who guarantee a longer stay and expenditure at the destination, as well as less dependence on connectivity”, explained Yaiza Castilla during the presentation, in which she was accompanied by the managing director of Turismo de Islas Canarias, José Juan Lorenzo.

As Castilla explained, Canary Islands tourism faces a 2023 in which uncertainties persist and risks increase regarding the macroeconomic evolution and its consequences on the travel market, due to the strong pressures on energy prices, the fall in the purchasing power of families and higher interest rates.

“However, despite all this, travel continues to be unstoppable and the prospects continue to be very positive for the islands, which are experiencing an increase in regular air capacity put on sale, both for this winter and for next summer”, Castilla assured.

In comparison with the pre-pandemic year, the Canary Islands has 9 million seats on offer for this winter, 25.2% more than in 2019, while for the summer season air capacity increases, for the moment, by 12.4%, with 11.2 million seats scheduled compared to 9.9 million in the summer of 2019.

A more moderate increase compared to 2022, “which has really been a year of great tourist commitment to the Canary Islands”, as Castilla pointed out. For the summer of 2023 season, an increase of 2.6% is expected compared to 2022, that is, around 300,000 more seats.

 

The Italian and French markets, the fastest growing

A figure that the Minister defined, however, as very positive because it must be taken into account that last year closed with the consolidated recovery of tourism in the islands, which received 96% of 2019 visitors, some 14.6 million in total.

“In any case, we do not measure success only by counting tourists”, assured the Minister, “because we have many other figures that support the good performance of the sector, such as the increase in tourist turnover, which could end the year at around 19,000 million euros, 2,000 more than in 2019, thanks to the higher spending of these visitors on the islands”. Even taking as a reference the inflation of the entire European Union, which is currently around 10.5%, there would be a real growth in tourist turnover in the Canary Islands of 16.5% compared to the pre-pandemic year.

Castilla explained that, in addition, Turismo de Canarias improved a lot in one of its main objectives, the diversification of markets. In this aspect, she highlighted the positive evolution of the arrival of Italian (132%), French (128%), Danish (118%) and Dutch (113%) visitors.

Also the British market, despite starting the year still with harsh anti-covid restrictions, was able to recover and in the accumulated until November the Canary Islands had already recovered 99% of these tourists. The German market, however, had a more negative evolution, despite which 84% was recovered. Likewise, Nordic tourists decreased, with a recovery of 75%, as they are still very affected by connectivity problems as a result of the slowdown in the expansion of Norwegian, although the airline is gradually recovering some of the routes it operated in the past.

 

Growth in employment

As for the accommodation sector, it also left great figures, achieving returns that had not occurred for many years, with a real growth of more than 15%, according to data from Istac. “In addition, we can offer positive data in employment thanks to the good performance of tourism, since in November the number of affiliates in the characteristic activities of this sector was 2.4% above the same month of 2019 and the number of unemployed decreased by 24%”, Castilla detailed.

A good performance of the economic engine of the islands that will continue in 2023. “Although it is true that we have been fearing the slowdown and the fall in travel for some time, we see that the data is going in another direction. Until when? It is difficult to know”, acknowledged the Minister, who added that Turismo de Canarias will continue working on the constant improvement of the tourism model and on maintaining the positive figures at fairs such as Fitur, always hand in hand with the private sector.

“We will go to Ifema accompanied by many more companies and professionals than in 2022, because on this occasion there will be 325 businesses with us in Madrid, compared to 267 in the last edition, as well as 770 agents from the sector accredited, more than one hundred more than last year, when there were 660”, Castilla explained, who once again stressed the striking design and great visual impact of the Canary Islands stand, with which, moreover, one more year “we make clear our firm commitment to climate neutrality, the sustainability of the destination and the transformation strategy towards a greener and more ecological tourism model”.

 

Lower carbon footprint in Fitur

Regarding the sustainability of the stand, Lorenzo explained that the carbon footprint caused by its assembly, use and dismantling has been reduced by up to 59%, which has gone from 18.75 tons of CO2 last year to 7.72 tons this year. “This considerable decrease is due to the fact that we moved one and a half fewer trailers to Madrid thanks to the fact that the material is more modular, stackable and less bulky. In addition, the operators in charge of its set-up are eight less than last year, so we also reduced their transport and accommodation, in addition to directly contracting services in Madrid such as the securing and anchoring of the elements and cleaning”, Lorenzo explained.

The global carbon footprint of the presence of the Canary Islands in Fitur will be 78.95 tons of CO2 in this edition compared to 83.87 tons last year, that is, it decreases by almost five tons (6% less), despite the fact that in the measurement of this year the number of people traveling to Madrid has been specified, so its number has increased.

On this occasion, the carbon footprint of the staff of the public company Gestión del Medio Rural de Canarias (GMR), responsible for the tastings and samplings of Canarian products, as well as the people who participate in the recreational activities of the weekend, aimed at the general public, has also been measured.

“Without a doubt, the measurement experience has been enormously satisfactory because we have learned and improved our sustainability a lot, increasing our accuracy and establishing a more consolidated dynamic”, Lorenzo explained, who emphasized the good work done since “even incorporating the CO2 emissions caused by 114 more members of the delegation than last year, we achieved a considerable reduction thanks to the improvements incorporated in the stand”.

As the managing director explained, the intention is to continue with the emission reduction actions with a greater reuse of materials, which is expected to be close to 75% and will reach 100% of the graphic elements, without prejudice to the final quality of the stand.

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