Tenerife has capitalised on interest in the London 2012 Olympics by showcasing its role as a pre-event training venue for a number of British stars,
Swimmer Joanne Jackson attended a World Travel Market press conference where guests were also shown a video of cyclist Bradley Wiggins and triathletes Alistair and Jonny Brownlee training on the Canary island.
Jackson said: “About half the Olympic team has trained in Tenerife.
“I’ve been at least five times at different times of the year but the weather has always been perfect.
“It has a lot of advantages as a place to train. Obviously the facilities are first rate but also the small time difference means that we can get off the plane and start training almost immediately.”
So far in 2012 the UK has made up 32% of all visitors to the island with Manchester, Birmingham and London the top three hubs of the 22 airports that fly there.
More than 76% of visitors are repeat guests and 46% of guests this year have visited the island more than four times.
In recent years Tenerife has been growing its luxury portfolio and now has more than twenty 5 star hotels. The next planned step is to co-ordinate the high-end experiences on the island such as personal shopping and private tours to enable travel agents to put together more of their clients’ itinieraries.