The number of international tourists visiting Lanzarote, excluding cruise passengers, has more than doubled between 2010 and 2025, according to the report 'The economy of the province of Las Palmas in graphics 2025', prepared by Corporación 5 on behalf of CaixaBank, the Círculo de Empresarios de Lanzarote and Círculo de Empresarios de Gran Canaria.
If in 2010 there were 1.55 million international visitors to Lanzarote, fifteen years later there were 3.14 million tourists, representing an increase of 102.4%.
In the case of cruise passengers, the growth has been even greater. In 2010, 300,000 cruise passengers arrived in Lanzarote, while last year there were a total of 663,000 people arriving by cruise, which is equivalent to a growth of 121.2%.
In the same period, the spending of international tourists has more than tripled, growing by 238%, although not as much as the spending per tourist, which grew by 67% in fifteen years.
Twice as many British, Irish, Belgians and Dutch, ten times more French, and fewer Nordics
By markets, the United Kingdom, the island's main source market, sent twice as many tourists to Lanzarote in 2025 as in 2010. If sixteen years ago there were 807,000 British tourists, last year there were 1.75 million.
Ireland, currently the island's second-largest source market, has also more than doubled its figures. If in 2010, 185,000 Irish people arrived, fifteen years later there were 385,000 tourists from the emerald isle.
In contrast, Germany sends a similar number of tourists as fifteen years ago. If in 2010 there were 230,300 German tourists, last year they amounted to 306,000 people. However, there were years, such as 2017, when arrivals from Germany were close to half a million visitors.
The market that has grown the most in the last fifteen years has undoubtedly been France, which has multiplied its visitors by ten, going from 21,800 sixteen years ago to 232,700 in the last fiscal year.
And the second market that has grown the most in fifteen years has been the Italian one. From Italy, 19,500 tourists arrived in 2010, a figure that multiplied by four in fifteen years to 87,300 tourists who arrived from Italy last year.
Belgium and Holland, like the United Kingdom and Ireland, have also doubled their numbers although they started from much more modest figures. Belgium has gone from sending 28,700 tourists in 2010 to a total of 56,800 last year. Likewise, the Netherlands has gone from 48,600 fifteen years ago to sending 85,600.
The only international market that sent fewer tourists to Lanzarote last year than in 2010 was that of the Nordic countries, from which 66,700 people arrived last year, almost a third less than those who arrived in 2010 when there were 94,400 travelers.
Domestic tourism has also fallen, by around 17%. If in 2010 376,600 domestic tourists arrived, last year there were 311,300 travelers, placing it behind arrivals from Ireland and very close to Germany's figures.
Tourist spending and infrastructure
For their part, overall tourist spending has tripled as the number of tourists and prices have risen. If in 2010 it amounted to 1,143 million euros, fifteen years later it was already 3,865 million.
However, spending per tourist grew much less in those fifteen years, specifically 67%, going from 862 euros to 1,439 last year.
Meanwhile, many of Lanzarote's infrastructure has not adapted to the new tourist figures.
The case of water is one of the most glaring. Both operational balances and technical audits in recent years have consistently shown losses due to leaks in the aging distribution network ranging from 52% to 61%.
Thus, despite the fact that the island's desalination plants produce water at maximum capacity to satisfy the increase in population (which doubles during tourist peaks), more than half of this desalinated water is never billed due to the poor condition of the transport network.
Another clear example is Lanzarote's vehicle fleet, which has grown exponentially to exceed 130,000 active vehicles for a resident population of about 160,000 inhabitants, representing one of the highest motorization rates in all of Europe.
Various mobility reports estimate that, at peak occupancy times, there are more than 20,000 rental cars circulating on the island simultaneously, collapsing critical points such as the accesses to Timanfaya or Los Hervideros, among others.
The impact on public health
In the healthcare sector, in 2010, the Lanzarote Health Area billed foreign insurance companies or healthcare systems 3.6 million euros, a figure that rose to 9.1 million euros in 2025, according to the accounting records of the Management of Health Services of Lanzarote.
The increase represents a 152% rise in the cost of direct medical care for people without a health card on the island.
However, this money billed to tourist insurance is not directly reassigned to Lanzarote but goes into a common fund of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), meaning the island's hospital bears the wear and tear and personnel costs without receiving that economic injection, at least directly.
Lanzarote's annual healthcare budget is calculated exclusively based on the registered resident population (around 140,000 - 150,000 health cards), completely ignoring the enormous "floating population" of tourists.
This creates an asymmetry that is heavily criticized by medical unions and the Staff Board of the Lanzarote Health Services. The "rabbit island" has historically received one of the lowest allocations in the Canary Islands, around 808 euros per health card, compared to more than 1,070 euros per card in islands with much less tourist pressure, such as La Palma.
The public bus network: From 3 to 8 million travelers
Lanzarote's bus network offers one of the clearest portraits of how public infrastructure can be overwhelmed by massive tourist growth if not planned accordingly.
Between 2010 and 2025, while island visits doubled, the intercity transport network (managed by the concessionary company IntercityBus Lanzarote) not only experienced a drastic increase in demand but also entered a scenario of operational and structural collapse.
The growth in users on the intercity network has been enormous, due to the massive arrival of tourists and the implementation of free transport for residents. If in 2010 intercity buses transported around 3.3 million passengers annually, in 2025, 8.28 million passengers were reached, with a daily average of 22,698 travelers.
The volume of passengers transported has multiplied almost 2.5 times (+150%), far exceeding the originally projected physical capacity for the network. In contrast, between 2010 and 2025, the regular intercity bus fleet increased by 27 vehicles (a 58% increase), according to data from the Cabildo de Lanzarote.
The adaptation of the transport infrastructure has lagged far behind mobility demand, which has caused neighborhood, labor, and tourist quality tensions.
To try to absorb this volume, the Cabildo de Lanzarote has also been incorporating vehicles with greater capacity, such as articulated buses. However, the frequency of the lines did not increase at the same pace.
Hence, the daily scenes of completely saturated buses, where it is common for dozens of passengers to travel standing on long road journeys or for the buses to pass by directly because they are overcrowded.
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