“We are seeing the latinization of our markets. National, Portuguese, French, and Italian tourism have a mentality that fits very well with the values that Lanzarote has, such as gastronomy, wine, nature, and sustainability.”
This is how Héctor Fernández, CEO of the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society (SPEL), explained the growth of tourism from Latin European countries.
In an interview with Radio Lanzarote Onda Cero, Fernández analyzed in particular the growth experienced by French tourists: “Connectivity with France has grown, but this is a reflection of demand."
“France is a tourist market where French-speaking destinations mainly work, that is, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco... With the Arab Spring, they began to look for other destinations, and then we reached an agreement with a very important French tour operator,” Hernández says.
"In La Geria, the predominant language is French"
“From 2012, small groups began to arrive from France who became loyal due to the alignment between what they are looking for and what Lanzarote offers.” Since then, explains the CEO of SPEL, French tourism “has not stopped growing, with this operator and others who have joined. “As a result, we have gone from having six airlines flying with France. That was unthinkable 10 years ago.”
“We have achieved this because of the existing affinity. The French are absolute lovers of gastronomy and sustainability. Their levels of satisfaction with Lanzarote are very high, and therefore, the rate of repetition is very high,” he reveals. "We are already the second Canary Island in French tourism and we are convinced that it will continue to grow.”
The value of Lanzarote's gastronomy
“Gastronomy, and ours has been a revolution in the last 10 years, is one of the aspects that is most looked at when choosing a destination. In addition, it entails an increase in spending and job creation,” says Hernández.
The growth of French tourism “is very interesting in terms of spending,” explains Hernández, who exemplifies how “in the area of La Geria, in its wineries, the predominant language is French, because they are very interested in the culture of wine, as is national tourism.”
Spaniards also “enjoy vacations with gastronomy and nature” and that, Lanzarote, can exhibit it forcefully and at a high level.”
Along with sports, he explains that gastronomy is the main line of work they are developing to diversify tourism in Lanzarote: “Right now, people move a lot on their vacations for gastronomic reasons, and in that sense, we are working hand in hand with the sector in great depth.”
"German tourism is still dominated by large tour operators"
German tourism is reduced
Asked about the reduction of German tourism in Lanzarote, despite the enormous promotional effort that has been made in that country, Hernández explains that there are several factors, the influence of tour operators, the limited presence of low-cost airlines, and the caution of Germans in the face of the technical recession in their country.
“The main reason is that German tourism is still dominated by large tour operators. They are large vertical groups and have their own hotels, which are much more present in other islands. The influence of travel agencies in Germany is still very high.”
The main hotels in Lanzarote have the largest quotas committed to British tourism, with great payment facilities, which also causes "the quotas for German operators not to be the best."
Despite the advances in reinforcing connectivity with Germany, he highlights the difficulties in this country for low-cost airlines due to the tax burden of sustainability taxes. In addition, Hernández explains that "in an inflationary scenario, the German tourist is the most cautious, and Germany is currently very contracted, it seems to be entering a technical recession, and that generates a major concern for the German market compared to other markets.”
In any case, the SPEL manager explains that they are redoubling their efforts to attract more German and Nordic tourism, since both are very sensitive to sustainability, which is one of the axes of promotion of the island.
"We want to take advantage of the New York-Tenerife flight for a combined vacation with Lanzarote"
Connections with North America
Fernández has also revealed that at Fitur they carried out contacts to promote tourism from the east coast of North America. Specifically from New York and Toronto.
"We are working with Turespaña and Iberia to promote flights in interconnection, through T4. We are also going to do it with Aer Lingus in Dublin and with British Airways at Heathrow airport."
He has also referred to taking advantage of the flight that connects New York with Tenerife. “The idea is to establish a flight with a combined vacation between Tenerife and Lanzarote through flights from Tenerife South with Binter and United Airlines so that through the shared code it can be a reality."
Finally, he does not rule out the possibility of a direct flight with North America in the medium term, but it is not something immediate.
