Canary Islands received in October, the month that begins the high season in the islands, 1.26 million tourists from other countries, the highest figure since 2017, the year that ended up marking the historical record of foreign arrivals to the autonomous community.
In contrast, Lanzarote received 258,014 travelers last October, 10% less than those who arrived in 2017, when the total number of tourists amounted to 286,849 people.
Between January and October, 11.23 million tourists have chosen the Canary Islands to spend a few days on vacation, 13.2% more, a figure that approaches the records of 2018 (11.31 million).
In the history of the Tourist Movements at Borders (Frontur) survey published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 2017 and 2018 are the two best years for the sector in the Canary Islands, with 14.21 and 13.75 million foreign tourists in the total computation of the year, respectively.
In October, Catalonia was the main destination for foreign tourists who spent a few days of rest in Spain, with 20.4% of the total, followed by the Balearic Islands (18%) and the Canary Islands (15.5%).
In the Canary Islands, two countries contributed almost 55% of the tourists: the United Kingdom, with 39.5%, and Germany 15.2%.
Tourist spending increases
The sector parameter that is already at historical figures in the Canary Islands is tourist spending, partly due to the strong recovery of arrivals, but also due to the increase in prices.
The 1.26 million foreign tourists who traveled to the Canary Islands in October spent 1,753 million euros that month on their vacations on the islands, 12.8% more than a year earlier.
According to the INE, each of them spent an average of 1,381 euros in total on the trip, with a daily expenditure of 176 euros, 5.0%. The period of stay was 7.9 days, 0.3% more.
In the accumulated balance of the year, the spending of foreign tourists in the Canary Islands already reaches 16,295 million euros, 15.5% more than in 2022.
That accumulated spending from January to October is almost equivalent to what the sector invoiced in all of 2019, the last year before the health crisis of covid-19: 16,854 million euros.
