The average Tenerife holidaymaker is 42 years old and earns just under 50,000 euros a year. They use as much water in a day as is needed to grow one kilogram of bananas. You’ll find these and other fascinating figures in this chapter.
The result of the construction boom in southern Tenerife (see the end of the text for chapter navigation), which we discussed earlier, was a proliferation of concrete monstrosities and widespread discontent. This discontent first arose amongst the locals, who suddenly no longer recognised their own island. Later on, the reviews from visitors to Tenerife also became increasingly negative.
Too many hotel complexes crammed onto too little land, coupled with cut-price rates – which inevitably led to a decline in the quality of the services on offer – created an image problem. It is only since the 2000s that this has been actively countered through targeted luxury holiday packages.
Economic crisis hits Tenerife hard
The target from 2008 onwards was to attract up to six million visitors to Tenerife. Shortly after the turn of the millennium, this figure seemed realistic. Plans were based on up to 30 holidaymakers per hotel bed. However, this planned occupancy rate of up to 80 per cent suddenly became unattainable due to the global economic crisis and the increasingly affordable holiday deals available in more distant countries.
In effect, the number of holidaymakers visiting Tenerife thus fell to around 4.6 million in the crisis year of 2008. And Tenerife is only slowly recovering from the drastic slump and the subsequent unemployment in the tourism sector.
Mainland Spaniards account for a third of all tourists
Just under a third of all visitors to the Canary Islands come from mainland Spain – particularly during the summer months of July and August. During the rest of the year, Tenerife is visited by people from Central and Northern Europe. A further just under a third come from the UK. Around eleven per cent of visitors are German, followed by Scandinavians, residents of the Benelux countries, as well as Italians and French.
On average, tourists visiting Tenerife are 42 years old and earn more than 48,000 euros a year. Each visitor uses around 400 litres of water a day – the same amount that is normally required on the island to grow and harvest one kilogram of bananas.
Holidaymakers spend around 100 euros in bars on Tenerife
Per person, around 1,200 euros are spent per week of holiday, of which just over 100 euros is spent locally in bars and restaurants as well as on leisure activities. Golf holidaymakers stand out positively in this breakdown, spending just under 40 per cent more money and thus raising the average.
Spaniards prefer to stay in 4- or 5-star hotels, whereas foreign guests are mainly drawn to bungalow complexes and apartments.
On an annual average, there are currently around five tourists for every local resident (just under 900,000 in total). As a result, tourism currently accounts for around a third of gross domestic product and employs around 35 per cent of the working population of Tenerife.
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