SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Feb. 23 (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, stated this Wednesday in Parliament that according to the latest indicators in the sector, the year could close with a volume very close to 15 million tourists “if no new misfortunes occur”.
The counselor linked these figures to the fact that the Canary Islands already this year 2022 exceed the air capacity it had before the pandemic thanks, above all, to the strong growth of the new tourist-issuing markets.
The counselor explained that this summer could be a turning point for the destination since potential tourists have money that they have saved during the pandemic and that they want to spend in the place they choose to enjoy their vacations.
“The air capacity to the Canary Islands will be accompanied by a strong increase in demand from Europeans, after two years of fluctuations and setbacks that have abruptly stopped travel outside its borders. This summer may be revenge and they have money to spend it”, assured the counselor, who added that “getting them to come to the islands would already be squaring the circle and very ugly things have to be put back so that doesn’t happen.”
Although the minister recalled that summer is not the peak season for the Canary Islands, she also drew attention to the great progress in positioning the islands as a safe and interesting holiday destination for many visitors who had never been to the islands before.
In fact, the percentage of tourists who visited the archipelago in 2021 for the first time in their lives went from 25% to 34%.
“With these data, we can conclude that the balance of risks for this year shows a very positive balance and we foresee that, definitively, the long-awaited recovery of the travel market will take place and a return to pre-pandemic figures,” explained the councilor at the parliamentary headquarters. , where he highlighted that the air seats scheduled for 2022 to date are currently growing by 2.2% compared to 2019, with 18.1 million seats already scheduled for the islands.
LAST MINUTE RESERVATIONS
In any case, Castilla was cautious when recalling that “the main change that the pandemic has caused is the greatest delay in reservations, which tend to be more last minute, to which airlines also respond by delaying adjustments in schedules. , so we will have to closely monitor the changes that take place in the coming months”.
The counselor was pleased that in recent weeks all the revisions in the programming towards the archipelago have been upwards.
Thus, for the summer season, which runs between April and October, there are 10,583,000 scheduled air seats destined for the islands, that is, 615,000 more than in the summer of 2019 (+6.2%).
The diversification of markets has contributed decisively to this growth, with a strong push from countries other than the traditional ones, among which the very positive evolution of the Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal and Austria should be highlighted.
These markets as a whole record an increase of 24.5% in connectivity, a high percentage that “generates a lot of satisfaction because, without giving up the share in traditional issuing countries, it is clear proof that the stimuli for companies are working and the promotional initiatives launched by Tourism of the Canary Islands and by the sector,” Castilla said in a note sent by his department.
AIR SEATS WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM GROW BY 6.5%
The minister also recalled that the air capacity of the United Kingdom, the main source market for tourists to the Canary Islands, will continue to grow, as important airlines have already confirmed.
The supply of British places to the islands for the period between April and next October is now 6.5% above those sold in the summer of 2019.
In addition, all the islands increase their air capacity forecasts for this summer and it is precisely La Palma that recovers the most connectivity, with 14.5% more.
“The only thing missing is for this growth to be accompanied by a rebound in demand, for which we are executing a series of far-reaching actions, such as three promotional campaigns, the La Palma Tourist Voucher and the call for specific connectivity aid for Isla Bonita. “, he pointed.
With these positive forecasts, the minister stated that, despite all the difficulties, a good job has been done in the Canary Islands.
“We have been able to take advantage of windows of opportunity that were opening up to capture new tourism segments, such as the case of remote workers, silver plus or professional sports tourism, as well as encouraging the arrival of new visitors from other markets with less tradition in Canary Islands, such as France, Italy or the Czech Republic, as well as from new countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia,” Castilla concluded.
