SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 7. (EUROPA PRESS) –
From December 2 to 6 in Los Angeles, Tenerife attended the annual congress of the United States association of tour operators USTOA, which brought together more than 700 attendees and in which the Island held more than fifty professional meetings with the main companies in the North American tourism industry.
It is the third consecutive year in which Tenerife attends this meeting, in this edition as the only Canarian destination and one of the three Spanish destinations present, in addition to Madrid and Catalonia.
The vice president and advisor of Tourism, Lope Afonso, commented that Tenerife “is decisively committed” to the North American market: “Proof of this is the attendance at the annual USTOA congress, which together with other fairs that we have already attended throughout of the year, represents the culmination of the year in which we have outlined as a destiny strategy to be able to have a greater impact on this market, which already produces figures this year that place us before a demand with a very high potential growth, where it has already beaten registrations in summer”.
As Lope Afonso added, “this invites us to think that by improving our promotion at the origin we will be able to have in the near future the possibility of consolidating this traveler profile for the winter season, with the improvement of connectivity and the segmentation of our tourism product. I am sure that in the near future we will be able to conquer this potential visitor, who values our important range of offerings, and is in a position to make a very high expenditure in the destination and, therefore, leave more profitability in Tenerife”.
The representation of Tenerife was made up of the CEO of Tenerife Tourism, Dimple Melwani, and technicians from the tourism entity. “Tenerife’s strategy in the emerging North American market seeks to capture the attention of a new traveler to make them aware of the options and potential that Tenerife has as a tourist destination, and especially its offer of sports and outdoor activities, golf , of culture and heritage, of health and well-being, but also of shopping, urban and premium, and all this without forgetting our gastronomy,” said Melwani.
He added that these attractions “are allowing this market’s interest in the island to be growing, which the data demonstrates, especially in summer from travelers from the United States, and in winter, from those from Canada.”
The USTOA assembly has brought together tour operators, travel agency networks and North American airlines, and also from continents such as Europe, with whom tourism providers and destinations from around the world have been able to hold meetings. Thus, among the more than 50 meetings held in Tenerife, those of United Airlines, ALG Vacations, Avanti Destinations, Delta Vacations, Goway Travels and Travel Savers stand out.
The Island also had a special role in this event, having been the official sponsor of the conference’s networking sessions on December 4 and 5, which were attended by around 600 participants. Thus, Tenerife Tourism had the opportunity to theme the room with posters of the island as a vacation spot, project promotional videos on the screens, as well as deliver material about the destination to the attending members, with whom the island’s representation also had meetings. .
TRAVELERS’ ENTRY
The US market accumulates the entry of 26,084 travelers from January to September, 35.1% more than in the same period of 2022 and double the number of travelers entered in the same period of 2019. Only in the summer of 2023 was the entry recorded of 9,913 North American travelers, 51.1% above the summer of 2022, and more than double the figures registered in the summer of 2019.
Canadian tourism entering the island’s accommodation is also growing, with 3,972 travelers in these nine months, an increase of 39.4% over the figure for 2022 and 55.5% compared to 2019. In summer 2023 , the presence of Canadian travelers in accommodation establishments is reduced by 8.8% compared to summer 2022, but increases by 24.3% compared to 2019 records.
