Tenerife participates from this Wednesday in a new edition of the International Tourism Fair Fitur 2022, which will be held in Madrid from January 19 to 23, with the aim of consolidating in this exercise the growth data of national visitors registered at the end of 2021. The island is presented at the event as a reference destination in sustainability and digitization.
The island’s delegation at the fair will be headed by the president of the Island Council, Pedro Martín, who will be accompanied by the island’s Director of Tourism, Laura Castro; the CEO of Tourism of Tenerife, David Pérez, as well as representatives of tourist municipalities and approximately one hundred companies in the island tourism sector.
In 2021, the national market became the first tourist source market for Tenerife, ahead of the British and the Germans. According to the data accumulated until November, national travelers registered an increase of 53.3% compared to the same period of 2020. In total, the number of lodgers of that nationality rose to 869,633 in those eleven months of the year, compared to 567,208 from the previous year, which means 302,425 more passengers.
Pedro Martín highlights that “this improvement in the Spanish market in a context as complicated and uncertain as this one is, of course, the result of intense work carried out from Tenerife to increase air connectivity with the main source markets”. Martín details that in 2021 the air capacity with the Peninsula had increased by 48% compared to the previous year.
In addition, the president indicates that this positive evolution is expected to continue this year in the markets as a whole, since “to date we have confirmed a regular capacity of around 7.5 million air seats, both national and international, which represents 53.2% more than last year”.
According to the analysis of the first data for January, there is a growing interest of national travelers in Tenerife, as shown by the number of reservations made to date, which has multiplied by five compared to those made in the same week of the year last.
For her part, the island director of Tourism, Laura Castro, focuses “on the reinforcement that the Cabildo has carried out in the area of Tourism for this year, in which we have proposed a budget increase of 4.5%, up to 27 million euros, with the aim of underpinning the good work that is being done to recover visitors to the island, which will allow us to overcome the situation resulting from the pandemic and once again place ourselves at the head of the preferred destinations for national and international tourists. international”.
In this sense, Laura Castro points out that “one of the main strategic lines of the Tourism area in 2022 focuses precisely on improving promotion and connectivity, for which we have a budget of 16 million euros planned, to which there are to add the items that we have planned for the improvement of the destination, with important actions on the coast, included in the Tenerife and the Sea program, or the new tourist information offices and intelligent signage, among other projects”.
For his part, David Pérez highlights that “one of the main objectives of participating in Fitur 2022 is to facilitate direct dialogue with the main operators in the sector to reach agreements and alliances for the 2022 summer high season. time, we seek to continue advancing in the objectives of sustainable tourism development after the certification of Tenerife as a Biosphere destination.
“Sustainability is one of the great assets on which the island’s tourism strategy is based, which makes Tenerife a pioneer with respect to other Biosphere destinations by also involving companies in the sector”, explains David Pérez, who adds that “another great Tenerife’s strength element is digitization, not only because of its recognition as the first Spanish island Smart Tourist Destination, but also because of the Artificial Intelligence Tourism Master Plan, a pioneer throughout the country and which seeks to turn it into a pole of technological attraction applied to tourism to offer the travel industry new and better experiences”.
Meetings with sector operators
During the fair, and especially between the 19th and 20th, the delegation from Tenerife will hold meetings with traditional travel operators, OTAs (online travel agencies), airlines, the media and Spanish tourist offices present at the fair.
One day before the official opening, on Tuesday the 18th, the Tenerife delegation will hold a meeting with the main directors of the Spanish tourism industry to inform them of the news of the destination, both from the promotional point of view and the modernization and improvement of the infrastructure of the island. This meeting will also serve to transfer the strategy to be followed in 2022 in the different markets and especially the Spanish one, with elements such as nature, culture, gastronomy or leisure among its sales arguments, always with a focus on unique experiences. that the traveler can live in the destination.
