HE Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijotook advantage of Fitur International Tourism Fair to do A call to “work together” with the primary goal of increasing the advantages that tourism brings to the archipelago and minimize damage. According to him, public-private cooperation will play a key role in helping the Canary Islands face the structural challenges and new challenges of the tourism sector, “challenges that require an urgent response.”
In his opening speech at the Canary Islands stand, Clavijo emphasized the regional government’s clear and strategic commitment on this issue. “Stop counting the tourists” We focus on taking advantage of the advantages brought by tourism. This road map ensures that the economic locomotive of the Canary Islands increases its turnover and acts in the same way. “Tractor for the remaining sectors of the archipelago”Thanks to the project, especially for agriculture and industry, ‘We will grow together’.
The Canary Islands Chief Executive is also committed to ensuring that the tourism sector spreads its benefits to promote sustainability, innovation and knowledge in the archipelago and contributes to the economic diversification of the Canary Islands.
Fernando Clavijo believes that this strategy will strengthen the Canary Islands’ international leadership. “Our global leadership goes far beyond visitor data: We are also leaders in our ability to adapt to new trends.“Leaders capable of diversifying our offerings and reaching out to the entire Islands community by taking advantage of our main economic engine.”
Twelve million places in summer
The President confirmed the forecasts for the sector at the opening of the Canary Islands stand in Fitur “absolute bet” European markets and airlines via the archipelago, which will be connected with 12 million seats this summer. This would mean 9% more seats than in summer 2023 and 21% more than before the pandemic. More than 2 million places.
Add to this the air capacity for the current winter season, which continues to grow and is now approaching 10 million seats, representing a growth of 9.6% compared to the previous winter and 36% more than the previous winter. before the epidemic.
According to Clavijo, “These positive data on connectivity support the idea that 2024 will be a great year for the islands in terms of tourist turnover if we can design experiences that adapt to the demands of our tourists. And I am sure that the professionals of the Canarian tourism sector will meet these demands.”
Reminding that the Canary Islands closed 2023 with an influx of tourists exceeding 16 million, the President stated that this figure is an 11 percent increase compared to 2022. We don’t want to focus on counting tourists.But while explaining the advantages that the arrival of these tourists brings to our islands. We appreciate this above all on last year’s billing. Reached 20 billion eurosClavijo emphasized that it represents an increase of 31.7% compared to 2019.
The economic engine of the archipelago will not be affected, although, as Fernando Clavijo details, the macroeconomic situation will continue to be characterized by a slowdown, inflation and the rise in interest rates that have accumulated since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. “Canary Islanders have an advantage due to European citizenship “Enjoying different experiences continues to be a priority and travel is one of the most valuable, so demand continues to grow,” said the Canary Islands Chairman.
emerging markets
During his speech, Clavijo highlighted how the main export markets continue to react. “By launching our presence in Fitur, we have confirmed that 2023 will be the year of definite rise of international tourism to the islands.“With a cumulative growth through November of 13% over 2022 and 6% over 2019,” the president said. Markets such as Britain (+14% compared to 2022), Ireland (+28%), French (+10%) and Italian (+8%) showed great strength last year.
Additionally, air capacity from the UK to the Canary Islands continues to increase at a very significant rate, with a total of 3.9 million seats, 10% more than in the summer of last year. “This strengthens our main market, the British, as they continue to increase their share in the islands for the summer season, which is currently close to 35%.””, he assured.
As for Germany, air connectivity from this country is starting to rise and is showing positive growth for the first time since the pandemic. This is 13.1% in winter and 0.8% in summerHowever, due to the economic recession, it has not yet reached 2019 levels.
As explained by Jéssica de León, Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, there is also an increase in the peninsula market, which is a particular hero of Fitur. “Connectivity with the peninsula increases significantly, with 13.6% more locations available during the summer months, when the islands will have the greatest connectivity with the rest of the national territory in their history. With connections to 25 airports and 3.9 million seats via 111 regular routes”.
Canary Islands in Fitur
With these positive data, fate comes to Fitur, one of the most important tourism fairs in the world. It does this with the help of 352 companies, 27 more than in the previous edition, and 1,172 accredited Canarian tourism sector agencies, 400 more than last year; This represents an increase of 51%.
Canary Islands Once again they have a stand that demonstrates significant communication potential., due to its high design quality and innovative approach. A stand that has grown by 120 m2 this year to facilitate the work of the councils, who will have a space for their presentations, as well as the numerous accredited media organizations that will have a larger area to facilitate their work.
Despite this increase in surface area Canary Islands Tourism manages to reduce the carbon footprint per square meter of the stand by 7%, with 80% of its materials being reusable and more than 90% recyclable.. In addition, the digital application, which provides information about all touristic resources of the eight islands, including accommodation, without the need to consume paper, has been launched once again.
The president of the Canary Islands used Fitur to set a busy agenda. He met with the Minister of Tourism and Labor, Jéssica de León, as well as the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu. Analyze the industry landscape and share study strategies.
Fernando Clavijo also visited the Fiturtech pavilion, a space linked to technology and innovation for the tourism sector. For the first time, two Canarian startups, MaarLab and AdQuiver, lead two of the four rooms of Spain’s most important tourism innovation forum. The head of the regional government emphasized that this is an example of the Canary Islands’ commitment to the export of tourism knowledge as an engine of sustainable economic development.