The Canary Islands will attend the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid next week, with an unstoppable increase in demand for trips to the Islands, despite the global economic situation. The objective this year will be to increase the 19.6 billion euros income that was generated in 2022 and create employment, after having recovered almost 100% of visitors last year with 14.6 million.
This was stated by the Minister of Tourism of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, in a press conference ahead of Fitur, in which she detailed the presence of the Archipelago at the event, which starts on Wednesday (18th) and in which 325 companies and 770 professionals will participate, figures much higher than those of 2022.
Castilla stressed that 2022 was a year in which "positive and surprising" results were obtained in the arrival of tourists and their spending, despite the war in Ukraine, high inflation rates, shortages of raw materials, and supply delays.
2023 also presents uncertainties, but she insisted that "the desire to travel is very present and far above economic conditions." Her department will continue with promotional campaigns aimed at attracting tourists for longer stays and increased spending at the destination, as well as reducing dependence on connectivity.
In this sense, she pointed out that the objective of improving the diversification of the issuing markets has been achieved, with an increase in the arrivals of tourists from Italy (132%), France (128%), Denmark (118%) and the Netherlands (113%).
In relation to the two main tourist markets, she assured that the British market recovered 99% last year compared to 2019 (the year before the pandemic), while the German market has done so by 84%, since the consequences of the war in Ukraine have been more noticeable in the latter country.
In any case, Castilla believes that it will recover fully in the coming months after the meetings that will be held with tour operators at Fitur. As for visitors from Nordic countries, the third issuing market, the number of visitors stood at 75% compared to 2019, due to the decrease in flights by Norwegian air.
PRESENCE AT THE FAIR:
The Canary Islands are attending FITUR with the same 1,425 square metre pavilion that it presented at the German fair, which made an impact due to its design, and for showing a "more sustainable, green, ecological, digital, and more socially aware" type of tourism. The carbon footprint caused by the assembly, use and disassembly of the stand has been reduced by 59%.
