Canaries to receive extra 300.000 tourists this year

The Canary Islands is to receive around 300.000 extra tourists this winter due to the conflicts in Egypt and Tunisia. This is the figure being used by Ricardo Fernández de la Puente (Tourism, Canarian Government) to predict a rise in tourism figures by up to 500.000 over last year (2010) and reach 4.000.000 tourists this year (2011). These extra 300.000 tourists will be diverted from the areas currently in conflict. The president of the ‘Federación de Empresarios de Hostelería y Turismo de Las Palmas, Fernando Fraile, has said that there are an extra 429.697 places available for this new demand and estimates that occupation levels will reach 90%. He went on to say that the tour operators have demanded a lower price to compete with the other tourist destinations.