The Canary Islands experienced a third consecutive month of tourist decline compared to the previous year during the first half of 2026. According to the Statistics on Tourist Movements at the Border (Frontur), the decrease was 117,571 fewer travelers (-1.3%) between January and June. However, this reduction was not reflected in revenue, which remained intact, reaching 11,853 million euros in the first half of the year, according to the Tourist Expenditure Survey (Egatur).
This maintenance of revenue is explained by the growing demand that allowed hotel operators on the Islands to negotiate contracts upwards with tour operators. This price increase has sustained the business volume despite the drop in visitors, a decline that was already anticipated. The sector considers that a permanently rising demand, prolonged since overcoming the pandemic, is not sustainable in the long term.
The German market, the second largest source for the Archipelago, has shown negative signs (-3.5%), reducing the accommodation capacity by 50,011 clients. In June, the drop was double-digit (-11.7%). Fuerteventura, more exposed to the German market (-10% of Germans), has seen its demand reduced by 4.7% (-66,251 tourists). In contrast, Gran Canaria has managed to contain the loss of German clients (only 2.9%) and has compensated with increases from Dutch (14,838), French (12,636), and British (20,368) tourists, being the only island to avoid red numbers from the United Kingdom.
The main emitting market, the British, still managed to grow by 0.4% (12,304 more visitors) in the semester, although in June it already shows exhaustion. Tenerife is the island receiving the greatest impact, losing 2.2% of demand (-80,478 clients), with a similar drop from the British market (-2.7%). Lanzarote (-1.2%) better withstands the blow from this market.
The evolution of the data suggests that fewer tourists are arriving but with greater spending capacity. The average expenditure per tourist stood at 1,520 euros between January and June, 0.6% more than the previous year. In June, this increase was 4.6%, and the average daily spending rose by 4.7%. The average length of stay was reduced to 7.94 days in the semester (-0.34%), and to 7.60 days in June.
