The Apartments in the Canary Islands saw a shortfall of 260,000 overnight stays in April alone. Overall, the number of German visitors to the islands has recently fallen by 20 per cent. In the Canary Islands, people are trying to gloss over this with half-truths about German pensions. But the truth is quite different.
In its analysis of holiday behaviour, the Baden-Württemberg Tourism Network shows that four out of five German speakers went on holiday last year. It states that 57.1 million holidaymakers is a historic record, according to the report.
At an average of 166 euros per room per night, hotels in the Canary Islands were more expensive last year than ever before. The cost of a holiday in the Canary Islands recently stood at around 186 euros per person per day. If more people than ever before were able to afford a holiday, yet the Canary Islands are seeing a decline in visitor numbers, it is quite clearly not down to a lack of money. On the contrary, it is a conscious decision to avoid the Canary Islands. And there are reasons for this:
Are German pensions the reason for fewer holidaymakers in the Canary Islands? Probably not!
Compared to the pre-pandemic period, prices for a holiday in the Canary Islands have risen by between 25 and 50 per cent. The islands used to thrive on two things: a mild climate all year round combined with a relatively short journey, and the price advantage over other destinations. If the price advantage disappears, more people are willing to put up with a longer flight. After all, if it’s going to be expensive anyway, why fly to islands that are currently bursting at the seams when you could go on a long-haul holiday straight away?
A comment in „El Dia“ concludes that pensions in Germany have been cut and that people are therefore no longer travelling to the Canary Islands. What is true: Many Germans on the islands are of pensionable age – particularly in winter. What is being overlooked: Firstly, the claim that pensions are being actively cut is not a confirmed fact. Secondly, an attempt is being made to explain the declines of the recent past by looking to the future.
The fact that prices have risen significantly, however, is only briefly mentioned in one place and is otherwise overlooked in the analysis. So if the actual number of German pensioners on the islands were to fall in future, it would not be because of falling pensions back home, but because of rising prices on the Canary Islands.
Fewer holidaymakers in the Canary Islands need not be a bad thing
Even though the headlines are quick to suggest there are problems, falling tourist numbers need not be a bad thing. For months now, there have been complaints about crowded streets, reports of traffic jams and articles about locals being pushed out of the towns. Many of these points address real problems. If tourist numbers are now falling, the main thing is that they are, first and foremost, returning to a reasonable level.
So the Canary Islands do not have a tourist problem; rather, they are on their way back to how things used to be. If that’s even the case. Because, calculated over the year, the figures are hardly alarming; rather, they are falling in homeopathic doses.
So if we absolutely must single out one problem from the current situation, it is certainly not the German pension system. If anything, it is price trends. And if these trends were to steer the islands out of the deep-red zone for infrastructure and the environment, that would actually be quite healthy, wouldn’t it?
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