Tourism Generates 4.474 Million Euros for Tenerife in 2018

Tourism has generated for Tenerife a total of 4,474 million euros in 2018, which is 169 million more than the previous year, which strengthens its hegemonic position as a key sector of the island's economy. The good evolution of tourism, which closed 2018 with a total of 5,801,954 tourists housed in tourist establishments (+1.7%) which again represent a historical record, has favored these results. However, the Island should be alert in the coming months to the evolution of external factors such as the recovery of competing destinations in the Mediterranean area - which have already attracted 11 million tourists - or the consequences of Brexit, which affects the main source of tourists to the Island

The president of the Cabildo, Carlos Alonso, has highlighted today in the presentation of the tourism results that it is "the largest number of tourists of all time." Alonso, who has reiterated that the sector is still the one that generates more employment, has insisted that beyond the number of visitors there has been an "important advance" to consolidate a change in the structure of supply, in which each more time accommodation in five-star hotels, "which generates more tourist spending, more employment and better quality." Precisely referred to employment, the president of the Cabildo has indicated that the tourism sector has 22 quarters of uninterrupted growth.

On the other hand, the insular councilor of Tourism, Alberto Bernabé, has valued the annual results of the sector. "The 5.8 million tourists staying made 2018 the best year in history, but overnight stays and occupancy have also fallen."

The Spanish market has been the main promoter of the positive balance that Tenerife has had in 2018, balancing the weakening of foreign demand for much of the year, which, however, has risen in the last quarter of the year to close the year with a balance sheet positive (+ 0.2%). "We still have to recover almost 300,000 Spanish tourists to reach the figures before the crisis, so we can continue to grow in this market," said Bernabé.

More than 1.3 million Spaniards stayed on the island during 2018, 7.4 percent more than the previous year. In the case of tourism in the peninsula, its affluence increased by 5.6 percent, accumulating four consecutive years of growth favored by the economic recovery and the expansion of air connectivity. More intense has
 
 has been the growth of tourism in the Canary Islands, which represents 40 percent of the total of this issuer, which increases globally by 10.2 percent.
Foreign tourism ends the year with a slight increase of 0.2 percent for a total of 4,498,573 lodged. The British market, with 2,027,429 tourists, lost 1.8 percent in the year, representing 37,000 fewer tourists, while the German market grew by 1.9 percent, reaching 641,603 tourists staying in tourist establishments in Tenerife.

The French (+ 4.7%), the Dutch (+2.4%), the Belgian (+1.9%) and the Irish (+13.6%) also grow, while the Italians (-2%) are down; Nordic (-3.7%); Austrians (-2.4%); Swiss (-1.5%) and Russians (-6.7%).

The tourism hosted in Tenerife during 2018 generated a total of 41,979,299 overnight stays (-0.1%). The stay was reduced by 0.13 points to settle at 7.24 days on average and the occupancy rate reached 68.6% (-4.8%).

Accommodation offer and renovation

The increase in the accommodation offer has been a key factor in explaining the result of the year due to its repercussion on occupancy and profitability indicators. The growth of the lodging offer in the Island, which increases by 8.5% in the year, supposes 11,800 more seats compared to those offered by the island in 2017.

Although Tenerife has a varied accommodation offer that allows it to serve different segments and market demands, the growth of the last year has added to the market a volume of places greater than the demand, which has generated a decrease in occupancy. This growth has been due to the construction of new hotel establishments, the rehabilitation of existing establishments and also due to the intense growth of the holiday home modality, which currently reaches a quota of almost 9 percent of the bed offer.

The growth of higher category hotels has also led to an important advance in the structure of the offer, in which the accommodation in five-star hotels increasingly weighs, a segment that generates.

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