Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Hotel sector bucks the trend
The Canary Islands hotel sector is not experiencing the gentle decline that has beset the tourism industry since the last Holy Week. Hotels are gaining customers, both Spanish and foreign, although Spanish visitors are shortening the duration of their trips, which is driving down the volume of overnight stays they account for. This decline in one of the key indicators of the sector’s health is only partial, however, because the performance of international markets has driven an overall increase of 2.4%.
With demand holding firm, there is little reason to restrain supply. In July, hotels across the archipelago welcomed 1,058,995 visitors – 50,965 more than in the same month last year – according to the Hotel Occupancy Survey released by the National Statistics Institute (INE). That 5% increase was spread across the 611 hotels currently open in the Canary Islands. In just twelve months, a total of 39 hotels have either opened for the first time or returned to operation.
New beds and jobs created
The number of available beds – strictly in hotels – rose by 10,353, representing a year-on-year increase of 4%. The province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was well ahead, adding 7,064 beds compared with 3,289 in Las Palmas province. This expansion of the accommodation stock translated into the creation of 4,722 jobs. The 63,822 employees currently working in the archipelago’s hotels represent an 8% increase on the figure at the start of last year.
This branch of economic activity, along with the wider hospitality sector, retail and certain public services, forms the foundation of the robust labour market that the region has enjoyed in recent years.
Inflation and interest rates cast a shadow
The threat posed by the second wave of inflation triggered by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran has placed considerable strain on household finances, and this is largely behind a retraction in tourism activity that, at least for now, hotels are not feeling. Analysts are already pricing in a further rise in the cost of money after the summer holidays. If the European Central Bank (ECB) opts to raise rates at its September meeting, European holidaymakers with variable-rate mortgages will have less money in their pockets when their payments are reviewed.
A rate rise is precisely the tool central banks will use to combat rising prices, which are already eroding households’ purchasing power. However much experiences – travel among them – have climbed to the top of household spending priorities since the pandemic, there comes a point when the pressure of ever-increasing prices makes it impossible to book a holiday away from home. Alternatively, it forces travellers to shorten their stay at the destination – and that is exactly what is happening in a significant number of cases.
Shorter stays but more guests
In July, the average length of stay at Canary Islands hotels stood at 6.40 days, 2.6% less than in July 2025 – a far steeper drop than the 0.9% decline recorded across Spain as a whole. Only the increase in customer numbers is keeping the overnight-stays curve pointing upwards for the hotel sector.
The eastern province hosts guests for the longest periods, with Fuerteventura leading the way at 7.47 days. It is followed by Lanzarote (7.10) and the south of Gran Canaria (7.04). These are the only areas where trips reach the week-long average. The south of Tenerife trails at six and a half days (6.53), while the rest of the western islands do not even reach six days.
Arrivals stabilising after record years
In June – the most recent month for which data is available – the Frontur survey of tourist movements at borders revealed a loss of 17,571 visitors (-1.3%). It was the third consecutive month to reflect the gentle landing that the sector had warned of. This retraction actually serves to preserve the destination’s health: breaking record after record of arrivals had generated the dizzying sense that the industry was approaching its limit.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Expenditure Survey (Egatur) put the sector’s turnover – across the board, not just hotels – at €11.853 billion in the first half of this year, 0.6% more than in the same period of 2025. This is largely because the trajectory of recent years has allowed businesses to negotiate price increases in their contracts – a trend reinforced by inflation, which is also reflected in accommodation prices.
The Hotel Occupancy Survey data released yesterday shows that this form of accommodation is, for now, immune to the loss of customers. The future of the tourism business rests on attracting fewer visitors but with greater spending power – and at least during July, the performance of hotels across the region moved in that direction.
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