The number of visitors in Gran Canaria, Spain jumped to nearly *** million in 2022, after having dropped below *** million in the previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Spanish island received more than **** million tourists per year in the late *****.

In 2023, approximately ** million international tourists visited the Canary Islands in Spain, which represents an increase of roughly ** percent versus the previous year. In *****, the record number of visitors in this Spanish archipelago was set in 2017.

Eight islands with lots of options for tourists

The Canary Islands, or the Canaries, are a group of islands off the Northwestern coast of Africa and one of Spain’s ** autonomous communities. The archipelago is made up of eight inhabited islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa. Tenerife is most visited island, followed by Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, all popular vacation travel destinations, especially for European holidaymakers.

Main source markets

The Canaries are the third most visited Spanish region after the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. The UK and Germany are two key visitor markets for the islands. Along with France they make up the three leading international tourist markets visiting Spain. Spanish residents also commonly visit the islands for domestic trips (494520).

As with arrivals of international tourists, the visitor expenditure has increased significantly due to a rapid recovery from the coronavirus crisis. In 2022, foreign tourists who visited the Canary Islands spent more than they did in 2019.

Tenerife was the Canary Island that received the largest number of visitors in 2024, adding up to more than ***** million international and Spanish tourists. Gran Canaria ranked second, with a total of approximately *** million holidaymakers that same year. International tourists in the Canaries Most visitors to the Canary Islands are from abroad, making this archipelago one of the key hubs for international tourism in Spain. In 2022, foreign travelers in the Canaries spent an average of *** nights enjoying the islands’ great weather. Whereas this figure exhibited a slight decline in that year, the daily expenditure of overseas visitors has been on the rise and, despite the crisis caused by the coronavirus, continued to grow in 2022, reaching an estimated average of *** euros. What is the accommodation offer in the Canary Islands? In 2021, there were over *** hotels open in this Spanish archipelago. Around ** percent were located in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Altogether, the seven islands offered roughly *** thousand hotel beds. Tenerife alone accounted for **** thousand of them. The hotel industry was extremely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For hotels in the Canary Islands, this crisis translated into a plunge of approximately ** percentage points in the room occupancy rate. In 2021, this key performance indicator exhibited a timid recovery, exposing the long way this industry has to go until it reaches pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, the United Kingdom was the most popular country of origin among tourists in Tenerife. Around *** thousand British tourists visited this Spanish island that year. The Nordic countries constituted the second most important source market for tourism in this Canary Island.

Over 1.48 million passengers arrived on the island of Tenerife on international flights in 2020, making this the islands with the largest international passenger traffic in the region. The number of passengers that arrived on international flights in each of the Canary Islands plummeted in 2021 compared to previous years due to the COVID-19.