At the 45th edition of the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid, the Canary Islands presented a positive balance sheet for the tourism sector in 2024, with more than 18 million visitors and a turnover of 24 billion euros. However, both authorities and entrepreneurs recognise the need to manage this success by focusing on environmental sustainability and redistribution of the wealth generated, so that the benefits of tourism improve the social welfare of residents.
The Vice-President of the Canary Islands and Minister of Economy, Manuel Domínguez, stressed the importance of addressing challenges such as access to housing, improving wages and working conditions in the tourism sector. He stressed that these aspects require close collaboration between the public and private sectors to guarantee the economic and social sustainability of the archipelago. Domínguez stressed that the government is currently implementing a reform process that considers residents as a priority in its policies.
The proposed measures include the renewal of the tourism regulatory framework, as the current laws are more than 30 years old. In addition, actions are being taken to facilitate the construction of housing, such as the approval of a decree law on urgent measures and the modification of procedures to speed up municipal licences. A law on the sustainable management of the tourist use of housing, which seeks to balance the tourist offer with residential needs, is also being processed.
The business sector, for its part, recognised the need to adapt to a model in which quality prevails over the quantity of tourists. In this sense, there are examples such as Lanzarote, which strengthen this strategy of sustainable and quality tourism. This island leads the Canary Islands in terms of tourist spending per visitor, with an average of almost 192 euros per tourist per day of stay, and has a moderate growth in the number of visitors, making it a benchmark for tourism management in the archipelago.
–The Canary Islands wants to manage tourism success with sustainability and a greater distribution of wealth. Article published in El Día, dated 22 January 2025:
–Canary Islands explains its sustainability roadmap to the UN Tourism. Article published in Hosteltur, dated 11 September 2024:
–Canarias points to sustainability and intelligent management of the flow of tourists to boost the sector. Article published in El Digital de Canarias, dated 26 October 2024:
In La Laguna, 23 January 2025.
The coordinator,
Miguel Muñoz
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