The Canaries start 2012 with increase in tourism

The Canary Islands have started 2012 with continued with growth in the tourism sector. Just over 916,000 foreign tourists travelled to the Islands. So far this year there has been an increase of 5.6% (48,000 more visitors). Tenerife has seen the highest rise in tourism.

The Deputy Minister for tourism in the Canaries, Ricardo Fernandez de la Puente Armas, said that “this increase continues the upward trend that we have been getting in recent months and shows we are on the right track. This has been possible thanks to joint work we are doing with all agents in the sector “.

Fernandez de la Puente Armas said that markets like Russia, Poland, Italy and France have seen increases in the beginning of the year with increases of 41.21%, 54.58%, 18.10% and 11.28% respectively. It is also expected to continue growing this year thanks to, among other reasons, the planned joint promotional activities to attract these visitors. ”

The island of Fuerteventura in January 2012 saw the arrival of 131,851 foreign passengers, representing an increase of 1.92% over January 2011, with 2,479 foreign passengers more. Meanwhile, Gran Canaria last month received 291,253 foreign passengers, representing an increase of 1.92% over January 2011, with 5,475 more foreign passengers.

Tenerife saw 352,627 foreign passengers visit the island, 33,344 more than in January 2011, representing an increase of 10.44%. As for Lanzarote, it received 129,177 foreigners, which translates into 5,495 more than in January last year, an increase of 4.44%.