More than two million Britons travelled to Tenerife last year – a record high – after a 16.1% surge in visitors.
A total of 2,049,093 visitors travelled to the Spanish Island in the Canaries from the UK last year, according to the Tenerife Tourism Corporation.
Brits made up 36.6% of all visitors to the island.
The figures come after air capacity to Tenerife rose 20.4% following the launch of new routes from the UK in 2016. There was an 18.2% growth in arrivals to the island from UK airports.
Alberto Bernabé, tourism minister for the Tenerife Island Government, said: “We are extremely pleased with the performance of the UK market last year, especially after the Brexit referendum. We would like to thank all of our valued partners – including UK tour operators, travel agencies and airlines – for their unconditional support throughout 2016 and for helping us to achieve these excellent results.
“Market forecasts allow us to remain optimistic for the present year as, according to ForwardKeys and Gfk, UK holiday bookings to Tenerife are predicted to experience an overall 11.4% increase in the first half of 2017.”
Alonso said the island is planning on investing €100 million to improve infrastructure, including the refurbishment of tourist and coastal areas.
Tenerife welcomed 5,596,764 worldwide visitors in 2016, a 7.9% increase on the previous year. An average stay on the island was 7.54 days and total daily expenditure was €121 per person.