An agreement between the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society (SPEL) and the airline Iberia led to the installation of 61 digital posters on outdoor supports throughout the New York neighborhood of Manhattan promoting the island in December.
The collaboration with Iberia has also been reinforced this Tuesday, January 21, within the framework of the International Tourism Fair of Madrid (FITUR) where the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, and the CEO of SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, met with the director of Alliances and Strategic Agreements of Iberia, Víctor Moneo, and the manager of Strategic Agreements and Traffic Rights of Iberia, Alicia Abascal, to address different initiatives aimed at strengthening the positioning of the Lanzarote brand on the East Coast of the United States.
The airline currently has a direct flight from New York to Tenerife, which can be easily combined with other islands such as Lanzarote.
The December promotion in Manhattan emphasized the island of Lanzarote as a Different Island, (one of a kind), biosphere reserve and biopark, with the slogan in English "Imagine an island where art and nature meet".
The campaign took place during the two weeks after Thanksgiving Day, which was celebrated on the last Thursday of November, and just before Christmas.
A tourist with greater purchasing power
The main objective of the meeting at FITUR has been to explore new avenues of collaboration to attract tourists with a higher purchasing power and consolidate the international projection of the island.
During the meeting, Oswaldo Betancort highlighted the importance of alliances with companies of the stature of Iberia to promote quality tourism and strengthen the island's economy. "Lanzarote has enormous potential to become a preferred destination in the North American market.
Likewise, the president positively valued "not only the effective response that the Iberia company has had in meeting the connectivity needs of residents in Lanzarote with more flights to the peninsula and other European countries."
Our goal now," adds Betancort, "is to reinforce and consolidate the campaign to position the Lanzarote brand on the East Coast of the USA, in addition to addressing other avenues of collaboration for expansion into Latin American markets such as Mexico and Colombia, focusing especially on attracting a tourist with greater purchasing power, a segment in which Lanzarote is focusing all its efforts."
For his part, the CEO of Turismo Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, highlighted the key role played by the US market in the strategy of diversifying the island's tourism. "We are focused on positioning Lanzarote as a benchmark destination in North America, offering unique experiences that connect with the interests of a demanding public willing to invest in quality."
Lanzarote leads tourist spending per tourist in the archipelago
Both parties agreed that the development of direct air connections and the implementation of specific promotion campaigns are essential steps to consolidate this strategy. The meeting concluded with a commitment to work together on projects that benefit the visibility of Lanzarote in high-potential international markets.
The Lanzarote president recalled that, at the moment, Lanzarote leads the tourist spending per visitor. According to data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), during the third quarter of 2024 tourist spending on our island reached record figures, totaling 1,027 million euros, which represents 18.8% of total tourist spending in the Canary Islands.
"Our goal is to stay on this line. Currently, Lanzarote is leading the spending in the destination, being also the island that grows the least touristically and we want to continue like this, not grow in the number of tourists who visit us but increase spending in the destination, thus consolidating a more sustainable and qualified tourism model," concluded Oswaldo Betancort.
