Tenerife In the balance of 2023, it will touch the record number of visitors, narrowly missing the never-reached limit of six million tourists.. It will not reach the record of 2017, the best in history, with 5.9 million, but it will reach second position in the ranking. Lope Afonso, vice president of the Cabildo and councilor of the area, values this year as “very positive” in the absence of closing December. “We don’t care as much about quantity as quality and tourist spending increases,” he says. He emphasizes the objective of reinforcing the trend towards diversification, beyond the sun and beach.
In 2022 they entered Tenerife 5.9 million touristswhile in 2017 were 5.93, in 2018 5.76 and in 2019, the year of the pre-pandemic, 5.73 million. The Island receives 40.9% of those who come to Canary Islands. Regarding tourist spending per person, it stood at 1,329 euros last year, 19.3% higher than in 2019 (1,114).
Lope Afonso did not want to specify figures because “the year is not yet closed” but he advances some of the “good work” carried out by the Tourism Research Department of Tenerife. He described 2023 so far “without throwing the bells in the air or being extremely ambitious” as “a very positive tourist year.” He bases it on the forecast of “an increase in the influx of tourists that will exceed the records of 2022 and also those of 2019.”
Afonso reflects: “We are still not at the record numbers of 2017. It does not worry us, quite the opposite.” In this sense, the insular Minister of Tourism delves into “the confirmation of the increase at a desirable rate in tourist spending at the destination.” He values that “it is the objective that we pursue with intense policy promotional”. Afonso breaks it down: “We are managing to have more influence in areas such as spending on gastronomy, sports or visits to nature and to the cities of the islands that are cultural references.”
“We are not going to reach the visitor record of 2017, but the spending figure on the Island increases”
The also vice president of Tenerife Council He emphasizes: “The strategy of diversifying the product and not pivoting so much on the sun and beach offer is giving results.” It aims to ensure that the variable of increased spending “is what the statistics for the coming years consider and not so much that of the influx of visitors.” He recognizes that “obviously, they have to continue arriving in high numbers,” but “we do not have the ambition of breaking records in number, but rather of improving spending capacity.” He adds: «This is what ensures the profitability of our companies, and in turn, the improvement in profitability rates. employment of our people.
“We are on track to exceed the tourist spending of 2017 and that is the most important thing,” summarizes Afonso. He assesses that “at the end of the year we will be around those 6 million visitors to grow compared to 2022 and 2019.” Therefore, he explains, “we are in a good time to close 2023 with the data we are considering.” These point to “a great tourist winter to start 2024 and also a good next summer.”
The sector “is in good health”
Lope Afonso summarizes: “Tenerife enjoys very good tourism health and maintains the leadership of the sector in the Canary Islands.” The counselor adds: “We will continue working on diversification so that the offer is not just sun and sand.” He lists as pillars of the strategy “better connectivity and diversifying our product because we have the values to achieve it.” Afonso concludes: “There are more and more companies specialized in sustainability, digitalization, etc., key to increasing our competitiveness.”
Tenerife leads tourism in the Canary Islands with a great growth rate in visitors since the beginning of 2023. This is reflected in the data from the Tenerife Tourism Research Department. At the end of the first semester, the Island was only 252,045 tourists away from equaling or exceeding the highest record in history in June, that of 2017. Then there were 2,777,659 and now, 2,525,613. This figure represents 14.6% more than during the same period last year.
Regarding tourism spending, it already increased last year above pre-pandemic levels. Per person, during the stay in Tenerife, it stood at 1,329 euros in 2022, 19.3% more than in 2019 (1,114). Per day, last year’s registration was 166 euros, almost 19% compared to 2019 (139). These figures will be beaten when this successful 2023 closes for a sector that was and is the great engine of the island economy and therefore a generator of employment.
