The Canary Islands saw a 43% increase in conference tourism last year, generating almost €31m.
Over 29,000 people attended a conference, trade fair or workshop in 2015, almost a third more than the number recorded in 2013.
The Canary Islands Tourism Board says 2016 is ‘looking promising’.
MICE tourism accounts for 0.2% of the total number of tourists visiting the islands every year, MICE visitor spending is considerably higher than holiday tourists. A
Daily average travel expenditure in 2015 was €175.47 for conference visitors, while holiday-makers spent an average of €133.60 per day.
Nevertheless, MICE tourists stayed on average 7.5 days – two days less than the visitor profile of those choosing the archipelago for their holidays and 65.6% of this group are tourists who have already visited the islands and 13.5% have already been to the Canary Islands on more than ten occasions.
Meanwhile, data by Safe Journey, the UK’s first travel terrorism policy, shows the Canary Islands saw a 38% upsurge in British visitors in the first half of 2016 compared to 2015.
This compares to a 5% increase to mainland Spain.
