SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 24. (EUROPE PRESS) –
TUI Group conveyed this Thursday to the Department of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands the strong commitment it maintains for the islands for this summer and has confirmed that it will bring 1.3 million tourists, with an increase in the average stay of 9 .5 to 10.5 days and an increase in spending by 20%.
This was communicated by directors of the largest tourism group in the world to the regional counselor, Yaiza Castilla, in a meeting in which the financial director (CFO) of the tourism holding company TUI Group, Sebastian Ebel, was present; the CEO of Markets and Airlines, David Burling; and the director of Purchasing, Helen Caron, as well as the managing director of Tourism for the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo.
“The Canary Islands are a very reliable destination that has come out stronger, that has known how to do things well and that is better than before the pandemic,” explained Sebastian Ebel, who in fact announced that for the first time they will have more business in the summer that in winter on the islands, collects a note from the Ministry.
The financial director explained that they anticipate that in the summer season they will bring 1.3 million tourists to the archipelago, the same figure as before the pandemic, although with significant changes since these visitors will extend their stay one more day, going from 9 .5 overnight stays to 10.5, and will spend 20% more on average on their vacations due to booking higher quality rooms.
“The destination has been able to take advantage of these two years of tourist ups and downs to improve its facilities and its offer, and make higher-class establishments available to customers,” acknowledged the financial director of TUI.
For Ebel, the work carried out by Turismo de Canarias has given rise to a destination that has all the necessary ingredients to be more successful than before the pandemic, even despite the war unleashed in Ukraine.
“Although the war is turning out to be a nightmare, fortunately it is not having the expected impact on tourism as a whole, with the exception of countries like Poland or Finland, which are closer to the conflict,” he assured.
SUSTAINABILITY WORKING GROUP
In addition, the CEOs of the tour operator presented during the meeting some of their plans to reduce and offset their carbon footprint, for which they have begun to introduce non-polluting technology.
“TUI is perfectly aligned with our sustainability strategy, which is why we have agreed to create a working group to continue advancing together on this path in which tourism activity tends to reduce its carbon footprint”, explained the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla.
He also celebrated the fact that both the tour operator and the Ministry share the same objective “and that the policies tend to achieve growth in the hands of customers with longer stays on the islands and greater spending at the destination, and that they are not focus so much on continuing to count tourists.
DECARBONIZATION
The minister also appreciated that both share the firm intention of achieving sustainable tourism and committing to the decarbonisation of the sector, both public and private, “an aspect that is increasingly important for European tourists when choosing their holiday destination and that we are going to turn into our hallmark”.
In fact, the Ministry has been working for some time to control its carbon footprint through the ‘Canarias Destino’ strategy, as explained by the managing director of Tourism for the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo.
“Through the project ‘Journey to decarbonisation’ we have begun to implement the necessary tools so that private companies can not only measure and calculate their carbon footprint, but also reduce and offset it”, explained Lorenzo, who recalled that this information will be made available to tourists through the ‘Plataforma Destino Turístico Islas Canarias’.
The managing director recalled that tourist activity on the islands generates 9.1 million tons of CO2, including air transport, and that Turismo de Canarias is working on an ambitious plan to reduce these emissions to 4.5 million tons by 2039 , thus fulfilling the aforementioned Glasgow commitment, in whose accession process the Ministry is immersed together with the tourist employers.
A commitment to sustainability that also affects air connectivity, as Turismo de Canarias is studying a shift in connectivity incentives to allocate them to airlines that use less polluting aircraft in addition to assessing that they come with higher occupancy.
Along these lines, it also agrees with TUI, which explained during the meeting that it seeks to achieve greater efficiency and profitability in its aircraft and, therefore, a lower environmental cost, guaranteeing the same volume of seats, but much higher occupancy levels.
