Occupancy levels in Lanzarote hotels and apartments rose in February by 4% according to figures just released by the island hoteliers association ASOLAN. With the total number of beds filled reaching 70.35%.

Of particular note are the figures for Costa Teguise, which achieved 73.45% occupancy during February, the highest level of any of the islands main resorts. Playa Blanca wasn’t far behind, with 73.36% of its beds filled, whilst Puerto del Carmen registered 68.38% occupancy.

However whilst this news is a welcome boost to the islands tourist industry occupancy has still not yet recovered to the pre-crisis levels of 2008. As during February of that year occupancy rates reached 76.97%, only to fall by 10.61% in 2009.

2009 was by far the worst year for hotels and apartments on the fourth largest Canary Island, with an average of only 65% occupancy throughout the year. A decline of 8% on 2008 figures.