SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, January 19. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Tourism of the Canary Islands will attend Fitur 2024 after closing 2023 with a new record of tourist turnover in the amount of 22,000 million, of which 2,000 correspond to Canarian tourism itself.
This was explained by the Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jéssica de León, in the press conference in which she detailed the presence of the archipelago in this event and in which she was accompanied by the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo.
“We close 2023 with a balance that could not be more positive, achieving an influx of tourists of more than 16 million and a tourist turnover of 20,000 million euros, which amounts to 22,000 million if we take into account the internal tourism of the Canary Islands, which continues to mobilize resources between the islands and represents 10% of the tourist turnover of the Canary Islands,” explained De León.
Added to these is that membership grew by more than 6% and registered unemployment was reduced by more than 9% compared to December 2022.
In addition, the business indicators in the accommodation sector, the ADR (average daily rate) and hotel Revpar (revenue per available room) showed extraordinary growth compared to 2022, which until November was 10.6% and 14.3%, respectively.
“Despite the inflationary environment in which the economy has developed in recent years, which we can assume will have had an impact on costs, the result still reflects a significant increase in profit margins for the accommodation sector,” said De Lion.
Although Fitur is one of the most important international tourism fairs, the peninsular market takes on a special role. In this regard, the counselor explained that in 2023 this market maintained its strength, with a growth of 1% compared to 2022 and 1.95 million peninsular tourists, almost the maximum level reached in 2019, when this figure reached 1. 97 million.
“The loyalty of the peninsular market and the strong commitment of the airlines to our destination are evident this summer, when the islands will have the greatest connection in their history with the rest of the national territory, not only with the two ‘hubs’ of Madrid and Barcelona, but also with 23 other airports through 111 regular routes and 3.9 million seats,” announced the counselor.
For the summer season that will start in April, the regular programming that airlines have put on sale registers an increase of 14% compared to the same month in 2023, which represents more than 400,000 additional seats.
By airlines, the one that will grow the most next summer will be Binter, with 226,000 seats that will be added to the other 188,000 that it already operated in the same period of 2023, and that will connect various points in Spain with Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
For its part, Iberia Express will reinforce its programming with more than 120,000 new seats, to which will be added the 70,000 new seats from Vueling, which has become the first operator in the national market to the islands, with more than 1.3 million of places for next summer, 33% of the total.
“Although the peninsular market is quite seasonal, with a peak in the summer months, in recent years connectivity has also been gradually improving during the winter months,” explained the counselor, who gave as an example the extension of summer routes to the colder months, such as the route between Valladolid and Gran Canaria or between Vigo and Tenerife North.
In quantitative terms, this improvement in air connectivity from the peninsula translates into a 7% growth in seats this current winter compared to the previous one. As for the islands, La Palma (12.7%), Gran Canaria (10.7%) and Tenerife (11.2% in Tenerife North and 6.8% in Tenerife South) are the ones that increased the most.
STAND NEWS
Canary Islands Tourism attends Fitur 2024, which is held at Ifema between January 24 and 28, accompanied by 352 companies, 27 more than in the last edition, of which 50 will have an individualized meeting space, in front of the 35 from last year. In addition, there are 1,172 accredited agents in the Canary tourism sector, 400 more than last year, which represents an increase of 51%.
“We attend one of the most important fairs in the world with a triple objective: to consolidate the good prospects for the summer season, to continue working to increase the added value of our tourist activity and to show our firm commitment to climate action,” he concluded. the counselor.
The stand, co-financed with Feder funds, has 1,545 square meters, 120 more than last year’s edition.
“This year we have an important novelty, as we have set up an area for conferences and presentations for 30 people that will host the presentations of the seven councils and public companies of the Ministry, in addition to expanding the area for the media to facilitate coverage of the fair,” explained Lorenzo.
In this edition of Fitur there will be a new clearly differentiated area with 14 tables for interviews with free access for accredited press, which will be added to the 12 existing in other editions.
In addition, there will be a large meeting room for 12 people with a wireless audio system and infrared technology and the meeting space for companies will also be expanded with 25 tables, 11 more than last year.
GREATER SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is once again key in the presence of the Canary Islands at Fitur and therefore the carbon footprint per square meter of the stand is reduced by 6.97%, which goes from 28.17 kilos of CO2 to 26.21 kilos , “even having increased its surface to host presentations by the seven councils and the Ministry and expanded the area for the press,” said the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands.
Regarding the carbon footprint of the global presence of the Canary Islands at Fitur, this amounts to 126.77 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, of which 40.49 tons correspond to the stand.
With the aim of continuing to avoid the use of paper, Turismo de Canarias will once again offer in Fitur the digital application that allows users to have a more personalized and individualized experience of the destination.
‘SHOW COOKING’ WITH HECANSA
The stand is once again characterized by displaying significant communication potential, high design quality and an innovative approach, in addition to having several visual appeals to generate notoriety.
The main of these attractions are the 20 aerial showcases in the shape of transparent cubes, with great visual impact, which will function as enormous showcases of the Canarian tourist offer and where audiovisual images of the eight islands will be projected, as well as four segments: sun and beach, active and nature, culture and heritage and gastronomic.
As every year, traditional activities of a participatory and energizing nature will be held, such as the juicing of typical Canarian fruits and the tasting area for local products and wine tastings from the islands run by the public company GMR, attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Likewise, on the weekend, when the fair will open to the public, various activities will be held, including a ‘show cooking’ in collaboration with Hecansa, a performance of Canarian musical pieces with contemporary dance choreography or a banana leaf artisan workshop. for kids and adults.
