In spite of the current economic climate tourists from across Europe are still flocking to Lanzarote in their droves, according to the latest figures released recently by the Spanish Airport Authority AENA. With total foreign arrivals for the year to date up by nearly 19% versus the same period in 2010.
Lanzarote has benifitted greatly from the turmoil in the Middle East over the last year as this has resulted in many tourists cancelling breaks in destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia and booking Lanzarote villas and hotels instead. As a result passenger arrivals now stand at close to 800,000 tourists for the year to October end, with a decent November and December also predicted this could result in one of the best years for island tourism for some time.
The British market remains key to this growth as visitors from the UK make up about 60% of all foreign arrivals – and are up so far this year by nearly 13% despite the domestic gloom and doom. Tourists from other counties are also ignoring the economic storm clouds and jetting off to the blue skies of Lanzarote instead. Including the beleaguered Italians – whose visitor numbers are up by an amazing 500% this year thanks to the introduction of new routes between Italy and Lanzarote by Ryanair. Arrivals from Germany and Eire, Lanzarote´s 2nd and 3rd biggest markets respectively have also risen too.
Some commentators believe that Lanzarote and the other Canary Islands could in fact benefit from this recession; not least as the island offers good value accommodation and cheap flights to Lanzarote are readily available. Making it a much more cost effective option for cash strapped tourists than other more exotic winter sun destinations. Any downturn in the euro could also result in an upsurge in British visitor numbers – as an increase in Sterling’s value would make holidays on the island even more affordable.
Either way the island has recorded a really encouraging performance during the course of 2011 and forward bookings for the year ahead also look very promising. With plenty of demand evident during the first three months of 2012. An indication perhaps that Lanzarote´s enduring appeal will help the island to weather the economic storm better than other competing destinations.
