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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EDITION 606
FRIDAY 3rd AUGUST TO THURSDAY 16th AUGUST 2018 MOVIES AT ...
EATING OUT & ABOUT
PAGES PA 25 - 27
Your dining experience aroundd our o restaurants
FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT NT
property
PAGES 39 -48
guide
MIXED FORTUNES FOR TENERIFE AS
TOURIST ARRIVALS SLOW DOWN
T
HE Spanish market in Tenerife has grown in the first quarter of the year by 2.8 per cent driven, by the Canarian tourist, whose influx increased by 6.1 per cent. The overall data of the Receptive Tourism Statistics of the Cabildo account for a total of 2,754,286 tourists in the period, which is 0.8 per cent less than in the first half of last year. Vice president of the Cabildo and insular councillor of tourism, Alberto Bernabé, explained that the results of tourist influx of the first six months of the year show a slowdown in the rate of visitors and a decrease in the figure of international tourism of 1.8 per cent. “The recovery of competing destinations such as Turkey, Egypt or Tunisia, which are also applying a very aggressive pricing policy, together with the deviations of air capacity that some of the big tour operators are making towards these destinations to achieve a greater profit margin,are some of the factors that are causing a decrease in the tourist influx in our destination, “ he said. Sr. Bernabé also recalled the exceptional of last year, “with tourist figures constituting a hardly surpassable record”. The head of tourism policy
on the island also said that “we will keep a close watch on the evolution of our main issuer, the British market, affected by the reduction of air capacity to the island. However, there is good news such as the increase of seats of British Airways for the next winter season, which will double the capacity between Gatwick and Tenerife South and will go from having eight to 13 weekly connections “. Overnight stays accumulated up to June totalled 19,948,634 stays and decreased by 2.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2017. Regarding the issuing markets, international tourism accumulated a decrease of 1.8 per cent from January to June a global of 2,182,427 housed while the semester was positive for the national market, which increases by 2.8 per cent to reach 571,859 tourists. The British market, with 964,670 lodged, decreases in the semester by 5.1 per cent while the Germans remain stable (+0.3%) with a total of 309,724 tourists. The balance of the first six months of 2018 is also positive for the French market (+ 4.3%); Dutch
(+4.5%); Belgian (+1.5%); Irish (+15.3%); Austrian (1%);
Eastern countries (13.1%) and North American tourism
(+6.6%). The negative note of the semester is placed by the
Italian markets (-6.1%); Nordic (-3.5%) and Russian (-10.7%).
Hoteliers say concentrate on quality and don’t panic
H
OTEL and non-hotel establishments on the island of Tenerife are expected to reach an average occupancy rate of 83 per cent this summer, a figure that represents a drop of five points compared to the forecast last summer,. This is according to the occupation survey carried out periodically in these dates by Ashotel, the Hotel and Extrahotel Association of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, among more than 100,000 beds throughout the province. This fall in the forecast of hotel occupancy is directly related to the trend in the decline of tourists that has been recorded this year in the archipelago, which closed the first quarter of 2018 with minus six per cent of tourists. By areas of Tenerife, hotel and non-hotel establishments in the south of the island have the highest occupancy rates in July and August, with 85% (-5% with respect to 2017 forecasts). With regard to hotels in the north, they plan to reach 77% of their accommodation capacity during the summer season (-8%), while in the metropolitan area (Santa Cruz and La Laguna), the estimate is 61% ( -2%).
However, this slight downward trend does not occur in two of the three remaining islands of the province. La Palma, for example, which in 2017 had a forecast of 85%, for this summer grows up to 92%. Among the reasons for this growth is the closing of the reform of the Sol La Palma hotel, with some 1,000 beds, which has not been included in the survey, which increases the occupancy of the rest of the establishments. In addition, the positive influence on the behaviour of Canarian domestic tourism continues with the 75%
discount on trips by plane and ship between islands. For its part, La Gomera, which usually shows a fairly stable behaviour and high in summer with local tourism, provides an occupation of 88% (+ 2%), although as the weeks pass that occupation is higher. In fact, in August, La Gomera is at 91% right now. Finally, El Hierro, as this is not a year of Bajada de la Virgen, today moderates that forecast of occupation at 70% on average, compared to the start of last summer with the total full in the big week of the employers’ holidays. On this island, the last-minute reserve of Canaries, accustomed to deciding their vacations without advance, works much like tourists from European, German
or British emitting markets, majority in the islands. In this way, the forecast of occupation in El Hierro will grow as we go into the summer. Ashotel believes that these signs of falling tourist arrivals are not a cause for alarm, but a touch of attention to continue working for a destination where excellence and quality of service and facilities prevail. The recovery of competing destinations of the Mediterranean arc, such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, direct competition from the Canary Islands in summer, is one of the most important reasons for this reduction in tourists arriving in the archipelago.