The Canaries presents their stand at ITB in Berlin

The president of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, will today (Wednesday 10th March 2011) open the Canaries stand at the ITB tourism fair in Berlin, which will be accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ricardo Fernandez de la Puente.  According to the Government of the Canaries in a statement, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism is planning to hold meetings with airlines and the major German tour operators to discuss the tourism situation in the German market for the islands. In 2010, the Canaries received 2.323.551 visitors from Germany, a rise of 4.6% and about 100.000 more tourists. The aim of Islands at the ITB is to consolidate the recovery of the German market, the second in importance to the Canaries after the UK.  In January 2011 the islands received 245.304 German tourists, 26.231 more than the same month of 2010, representing an increase of 11.97%.