The historic protests in the Canary Islands against tourist overcrowding and for a change in the economic model have coincided with a sweet moment for the sector. The islands are experiencing their high season and in March they led the arrival of foreign travelers and hotel profitability, according to INE data released this Tuesday. Of the more than four million international tourists who arrived in Spain last month, 20% chose the Canary Islands. In terms of overnight stays, Canarian hotels accumulated 38.27% of the total.
These establishments also stood out as the most expensive and profitable in the entire country. The average daily rate for a hotel room in the Canary Islands reached 143 euros in March, compared to 109 euros on average throughout Spain. Regarding income per available room, data used to measure the profitability of hotels, it reached 127.31 euros per day, almost double that of the rest of the sector in Spain, which billed an average of 69.49 euros. euros per room.
The data collected by the INE confirms the good progress of tourist activity in Spain. Hotel prices rose 10% in March compared to the same month in 2023, so they have now accumulated 34 consecutive months of increases. As for overnight stays, they totaled 24.5 million, 19.1% more than a year before. The weight of the sector in the Spanish economy as a whole is increasing, as the Exceltur lobby explained last week.
If last year its contribution already broke historical records, with a generation of 186,596 million euros, 12.8% of the GDP according to Exceltur, this 2024 tourism activity will once again break records. The entity that brings together the main companies in the sector estimates that the tourism GDP in Spain will exceed 200,000 million euros for the first time (specifically, up to 202,651 million), which would reach a participation in the economy of 13.3%. .
But this unstoppable boom has aroused deep discomfort in some of the areas with the most tourist demand, as is the case of the Canary Islands, with large demonstrations last weekend.
