The Canary Islands remained in 2017 to less than 25,000 tourists to reach 16 million. The data on border tourism movements (Frontur) -published yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and its regional counterpart, the Istac- certify that the forecasts handled by the regional government and the sector were not misguided: the destination has marked a new record -15.975.507 tourists-, experiencing an increase of more than one million customers compared to the previous year.
The strength of the foreign market explains the historical records. The 14,310,373 international visitors received in 2017 represent an increase of 7.3%.
The evolution of national tourism is more modest. The 1,665,137 customers resident in Spain represent a rise of just 17,000 people compared to the previous year’s data – 1% more – and point to a slowdown in the recovery process of this market, which in 2016 had contributed almost 160,000 tourists plus.
The analysis by nationalities shows that the improvement of the markets was almost general, with the sole exception of France.
The expected adverse effects of “brexit” have not been felt in the Islands, which still have the British as their main market. In 2017, 5,267,514 tourists from the United Kingdom stayed in the Canary Islands, 7.6% more than in the previous year.
Germany, with 3,124,223 visitors and an increase of 3.4%, takes second place again. The rise of the Swedish market -652,344 tourists, an increase of 7.5 %- places it in third place, a position that has overtaken clients coming from the Netherlands, which amounted to 648.508, 4.7% more.
“The Canary Islands has consolidated as a leading destination not only in number of tourists, but also in terms of hotel occupancy, profitability and employment, with around 10,000 jobs more than the previous year,” he said in a statement. the Minister of Tourism, Isaac Castellano, who noted that one in four foreign visitors arrived in Spain in December opted for the Islands.
Spending also breaks a new record
Canarias closed 2017 with a record amount of spending by foreign tourists, leaving a sum of 16,780 million euros, 11.4% more than the previous year, according to data published yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and collected by Efe. The archipelago was, thus, the second autonomous community with the largest total expenditure of foreign visitors in 2017, behind only Catalonia, where it amounted to 19,152 million euros, 9.7% more than in 2016, according to the latest Tourist Expenditure Survey Egatur. It details that in December the disbursement of foreign travelers arrived at the Islands was 1,541 million euros, 4.3% more than a year ago, and that the average expenditure of each of them was 1,226 euros , with an interannual increase of 3.8%. The average cost per person per day was 141 euros, which increased 10% in relation to December 2016.
