International tourism remains strong in the Canary Islands, consistently achieving monthly growth. Although the growth rate has slowed compared to last year, it still exceeds 10%. In the first five months of 2024, the islands welcomed 6.7 million tourists, an 11% increase compared to year with almost 800,000 more visitors, setting a new record.
British tourists have significantly contributed to the growth, as nearly half of all visitors to the Canary Islands come from the UK. In May alone, the islands received over a million tourists, an increase of 10.4% (102,640 more people), with almost 500,000 of these being British.
Of the nearly 800,000 additional tourists in the first five months, 40% were from the UK. British tourism continues to grow robustly, with a 10% increase in visitor numbers compared to 2023. Cumulatively, British visitors have grown by almost 13% so far this year, and in the first five months of the year, almost 2.5 million British tourists have visited the Canary Islands.
Germans remain the second-largest group of tourists. In the first five months, 1.2 million Germans visited the Canary Islands, a 14% increase, although May saw a modest growth of only 1.3%.
France has now become the third-largest source market for tourists to the archipelago. By May, nearly 400,000 French tourists had visited, an 8% increase. France experienced the highest growth rate in May, of 23%. Ireland follows with 336,433 tourists, then the Netherlands with 321,294, and Italy with 309,299 visitors in the first five months.
All major source markets showed positive growth except Denmark and Finland, which saw declines of 3.8% and 8.5%, respectively. Despite this, the Nordic countries (Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) remain significant, with nearly 700,000 visitors so far this year between them.
All islands recorded positive growth both for May and the year-to-date. Tenerife remains the top destination for foreign tourists, with 2.6 million visitors by May, a 14.3% increase from last year.
Gran Canaria received 1.7 million visitors, a 12% increase, while Lanzarote saw 1.2 million visitors, an almost 11% increase. Fuerteventura welcomed nearly 955,000 visitors, up 11.3%, and La Palma received 62,729 tourists, a significant increase of nearly 45%, as it recovers from the volcanic eruption's impact on tourism.
The increase in tourist arrivals has been accompanied by a significant rise in spending. In May, tourists spent 1.45 billion euros in the Canary Islands, a 14.7% increase from the previous year. In the first five months of 2024, total spending reached 9.63 billion euros, nearly 17% more than the previous year.
The average spending per person per day in May was 1,403 euros, with a daily average of 189 euros. The only negative indicator was the average length of stay, which decreased by 5% to seven and a half days in May.
Nationally in Spain, in the first five months of 2024, international tourist spending grew by 21.8%, surpassing 43.2 billion euros, and the number of visitors increased by 13.6% to over 33.2 million. In May, the country welcomed 9.3 million international tourists, an 11.5% increase, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
