Canary Islands, Spanish destination preferred by international tourism in 2022

In December, the Canary Islands accounted for more than half of the hotel nights of international travelers in Spain

Tourists on a terrace in Lanzarote
Tourists on a terrace in Lanzarote

The Canary Islands were the preferred destination for international tourists to spend their holidays in Spain in 2022. The archipelago accounted for 27.5% of the more than 200 million hotel overnight stays in Spain by non-residents during the past year, according to the Hotel Tourism Situation of the INE.

The next destination in the country was the Balearic Islands, where 25.2% of the total were recorded. This was followed by Catalonia, where 17.9% of international tourism overnight stays took place.

Particularly positive for the archipelago was the behavior of international tourists in December. Last month, the Canary Islands accounted for 52.6% of the total overnight stays by non-resident travelers in Spain. The next destinations in December were Catalonia and Andalusia, with 15.1% and 10.0% of the total, respectively.

 

Among residents in Spain, the Canary Islands were the fifth destination in the country

With 7.7% of the total hotel overnight stays by residents in Spain during 2022, which amounted to 120 million nights, the Canary Islands ranked fifth, behind Andalusia (26.3%), Catalonia (33.0%) and Valencia (37.4%) and Madrid (9.1%).

The total number of overnight stays in hotel establishments in Spain, both by residents and non-residents, totaled 320.7 million in 2022 as a whole, an increase of 85.6% compared to 2021.

Nationally, overnight stays by residents grew by 32.1% and those by non-residents by 144.7%. If the data are compared with those of 2019, before the pandemic, overnight stays in 2022 are 6.5% lower than those of that year.

Looking at the origin of the travelers, overnight stays by residents in Spain have reached in 2022 a level 0.3% higher than those of 2019, while those of non-residents have been 10.1% lower. 59.1% of overnight stays in 2022 were concentrated between the months of May to September, with an increase of 75.4% compared to the same period of 2021.

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