Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE) of the omicron variant, a figure equivalent to the movement of a month of low season, but tourist spending exceeded that of 2019 by 597.66 million (+3.54%)
According to data published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics, last year 12.32 million foreign tourists visited the islands, compared to 13.14 million in 2019, which generated spending in the sector of 17,451.98 million euros. , above the 16,854.32 of the last year prior to the pandemic.
Last year, the Canary Islands tourism sector received more than one million international tourists in seven of the twelve months of the year (March, April, July, August, October, November and December), with the maximum for the year in December ( 1,219,933 people)
The last year before the outbreak of SARS-Cov-2, 2019, had nine months above one million foreign visitors (all but May, June and September), with maximums in March (1,340,619).
If the two years are compared, it is in the first quarter, with European tourism still affected by the end of the omicron wave, where the delay that the figures for the sector in the Canary Islands still presented as of December 31 compared to one year is concentrated. “normal”.
From January to March 2019, 3.67 million international tourists traveled to the Canary Islands (1.15, 1.17 and 1.34 million, respectively) while in the same months of 2022 2.85 million people did ( 0.75, 0.96 and 1.12 million).
According to the Survey of Tourist Movements on the Border (Frontur), the Canary Islands was the first main destination for tourists who traveled to Spain in the last month of the year, with 29.6% of the total, followed by Catalonia (19.7%). and Andalusia (13.0%).
Almost 1.23 million tourists arrived in the Canary Islands in the last month of the year, 35.1% more than in December 2021. The main countries of residence of travelers who chose the islands were the United Kingdom (with 33.4 % of the total) and Germany (19.0%).
In terms of spending, international tourists who traveled to the Canary Islands in December left 1,679 million euros on their vacations, 35% more than in the same month of 2021, which represents 32% of the total turnover of the sector in December throughout Spain.
Total spending per person almost repeated the same figures as in 2021, with 1,377 euros (-0.1%), but spending per person per day shot up 8.8%, to 168 euros.
The explanation for the fact that with 35% more tourists and 8.8% more disbursement per person per day, almost the same billing as in 2021 has been repeated is found in the average length of stays, which has been reduced by 8 .2%, up to 8.2 days. EFE
