The tourist sector of Gran Canaria concluded last May with a occupancy of 67.26% of its hotel and non-hotel rooms, which represents an increase of 2.67% compared to the same month in 2022, as reported yesterday by the acting Councilor for Tourism of the Cabildo, Carlos Alamo, who stressed that “these are very positive data for this month, which usually has a contained demand as it is in a period after the winter season and before the start of the summer campaign.” In fact, the month of May is considered part of the low season for this industry on the Island.
Álamo stated that this increase in occupation allowed, in turn, a increase in turnover, with income that was 12.73% higher than in the same month of 2022. Thus, according to the accommodation report of the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (Istac), in the month of May an income of 85,346,089 euros was reached . This amount is significantly lower than that of April, which was 110,363,179 euros as Easter coincided in that month.
The drop in billing compared to the previous month was widespread across all the islands and in similar percentages. Regarding the occupancy rate per bed in May, 67.26% of Gran Canaria was below the average for the Archipelago, which was 70.21%. Above this average rate were Lanzarote (78.70%) and Tenerife (72.54%), while Fuerteventura (65.28%), La Gomera (51.56%), La Palma (45 95%) and El Hierro (30.16%).
Álamo explained that the average daily rate for tourist accommodation increased by 4.62% compared to the year-on-year comparison, “which represents a notable improvement in terms of turnover, above the price increase.” The increase in the number of occupied positions was 6.02%.
winter season
The Councilor for Tourism of the Cabildo recalled in a note that Gran Canaria closed the last winter season with 2,373,902 customers, according to data from Frontur, which implies an increase of 28.04% compared to the winter period of 2021-22.
64.55% of these clients opted for hotel accommodation and a decrease in the use of the tourist package stands out, since only 47.06% of these visitors contracted it. The majority customers were nordicwith 26.76% of the total, and the germans, with 20.64% of the total arrivals. The British They accounted for 17.45% of these, while the Dutch client has climbed positions in recent years to represent 5.33% of the total number of visitors this past winter.
The presence of French It has increased by 58.08% in the last winter and the Irish do so by 72.89%. The British grew by 47.29 and the Nordics by 28.15%, after the containment and prudence shown in the previous year in the face of the threat posed by the war in Ukraine. The Germans have increased their visits by 22.31%.
«It is confirmed that the call to contain spending by governments such as the German and the prudence of the Nordics weighed down the arrival data of the previous year, as we explained, and now they return to a destination like ours that is preferential for these markets”, said Álamo, who stressed that, “all in all, we are exceeding the figures for 2019 in turnover, which were the third best in the historical series for Gran Canaria”.
«In a few months», he pointed out, «we are exceeding arrivals, something that does not worry us since the purpose of our strategy prioritizes the increase in billing and income with a similar number of clients and we are achieving it, at the same time that we are betting by values of social and tourist sustainability”.
The arrival of tourists fell 0.64% in April compared to the increase in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura
The data for tourist arrivals in the month of April, the latest known, show that Gran Canaria continues to be the island furthest behind in the recovery of visitors compared to before the pandemic. The frontur statistics point out that in the month of April a total of 354,131 tourists arrived in Gran Canaria, which represented a decrease of -0.64% compared to the same month in 2022.
In contrast, the other three islands with large hotel capacity increased the number of visitors compared to the same month of the previous year: Tenerife received 555,233 tourists, 6.23% more; Lanzarote 266,919, an increase of 11.05%; and Fuerteventura 204,967, 12.83% more. In the Archipelago as a whole, a total of 1,357,487 tourists were recorded in April, 5.49% more than in 2022.
