The Hotel and Non-Hotel Association of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Ashotel) has calculated that hotel occupancy in the Tenerife capital averaged 85.7 percent during the Carnival period and has called for a “comprehensive strategy” to fully leverage the festival’s potential throughout the year.
Ashotel stated that these figures were nearly identical to the 2023 Carnival statistics and represented an almost 15-point increase compared to the reservations made by the hotels just before the start of the street festivities.
Breaking down the numbers, the first Carnival weekend, including Monday and Tuesday, saw an average of 88.5% occupancy, while the “piñata” weekend achieved an average of 81.6%, slightly below 2023’s figure of 83.3%.
This variance was influenced by the Drag Gala and the Carnival Arena of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which scheduled its main weekend to coincide with Santa Cruz’s piñata festival.
Ashotel added, “Despite this, Santa Cruz managed to maintain last year’s average.”
In the overall evaluation of the metropolitan area (Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna), the Carnival concluded with an average occupancy of 87.72%.
Gabriel Wolgeschaffen, the vice president of Ashotel in the metropolitan area, described this Carnival’s outcome as “very positive” and attributed it to the “Day Carnival” format, which takes place on the first Sunday and the second Saturday, extending the festivities beyond the peak days of street parties.
However, with regards to the customer segment, Wolgeschaffen clarified that this year, “we missed business and vacation groups managed by agencies or tour operators, as individual clients or small groups of family or friends predominated.”
Dealing with this format posed greater complexity in managing reservations, even though the final occupancy figures were almost identical to last year’s.
Ashotel’s vice president emphasised that there is a “demand from thousands of tourists who visit us throughout the year” to maximise the Carnival’s potential, stressing that “we still maintain a very local profile.” He added, “This festival deserves to take an international leap.”
“It’s not about parades and performances every day, but about creating experiences around the Carnival, organising periodic visits to key points within the industry that thrives with this festival. Visitors should be able to learn, for example, how a workshop designs fantasies, how rehearsals work, and the internal operations that are ongoing throughout the year,” he concluded.
