Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Canary Islands will consolidate this summer the boom in air connectivity that it registered last year with 122 destinations belonging to 28 markets and with 1,929 weekly frequencies in a typical week, 196 more than in the pre-pandemic year, has announced the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla.
On the second day of the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur), Castilla has detailed that the islands will be connected to 122 cities, one more than in 2019, although some destinations have disappeared due to the war in Ukraine.
Thus, places close to the conflict, such as cities in Poland, Russia and some in Germany, will lose their connection with the islands, but new connections will emerge with French, Italian, Spanish and some German cities.
The counselor explained that Turismo de Canarias “has made great progress in diversifying markets, not only with an increase in connections from Italy and France, but also with the incorporation of Iceland, Slovakia and the United States compared to the pre-pandemic year.”
The Canary Islands Tourism delegation has met within the framework of Fitur with representatives of Iberia Express, Booking, Lufthansa, eDreams, Air Europa, TUI, easyJet, Ryanair, Eurowings, Jet2, Vueling or Expedia, among others.
In all these meetings, sustainability and the reduction of CO2 emissions have been addressed as a primary issue.
«From the World Travel Market we go to meetings with the calculation of the carbon footprint of each airline that operates with the Canary Islands and we notice progress in this regard, especially hand in hand with the incorporation of new aircraft, although the rate of delivery of manufacturers is not desirable”, remarked Castilla.
In addition to advancing in the sustainability of air connectivity in the Canary Islands, the strategy for converting seats into passengers has also been outlined.
“We enjoy high connectivity that allows us to guarantee the influx of tourists, although we have to work hard to fill those planes and, for this reason, we met at Fitur with the main airlines and tour operators, to reach promotion and co-marketing agreements”, has referred.
During 2022, Turismo de Islas Canarias launched 1,985 million advertising impacts, 119% more than the previous year. In addition, more than 9,000 ad groups were developed, 70% more than in 2021, in 20 markets and targeting 15 different travel motivations.
“This is the greatest proof of our unprecedented commitment to attracting customers from different markets and different segments, with which we have recovered our tourism and increased profitability,” Castilla assured.
The counselor has also referred to the improvement of the destination’s offer through support for the organization of events of tourist interest, of a sporting, cultural, gastronomic, leisure or professional and academic nature, which in 2022 were 209 sponsored since Turismo de Canarias, with a global investment close to 9 million euros, compared to five million and 190 events in 2021. EFE