Canary Islands Tourism will launch a campaign in 14 markets later this month to attract ‘winter escapists’ – wooing tourists away from the cold weather and gloomy news.
The tourist board will be at World Travel Market London (November 7-9) to encourage the British trade, as the UK market accounts for 35% of the destination’s visitors.
More than 250 professionals from 150 companies and institutions in the Canaries will have meetings with tour operators, travel agencies, airlines and representatives of the British travel industry at the event.
Yaiza Castilla, tourism minister, said it was a “strange time” because the industry is recovering from the pandemic amid a “complex global socioeconomic climate”, with high inflation and an energy crisis.
She said British holidaymakers have experienced more obstacles than others in Europe, “as Brexit has caused instability in the UK, leading to the resignation of four prime ministers after the 2016 referendum, depreciation of the pound and rising rates of inflation, which right now is above 10%”.
Visitor numbers from the UK fell by a third because of the pandemic and Brexit but numbers are recovering, she added.
In the January-August period, numbers were 95% of those seen in 2019.
Launching on November 15 with the slogan ‘Winter Escapists, welcome to the Canary Islands’, the campaign will promote the Canaries as the ideal destination for Europeans who need to escape, not only from the cold, but also from the “harshness of the economic and socio-political situation and take a break from routine”.
Digital and outdoor advertising will be supplement with TV weather spots in priority markets.