The Canarian tourism sector has experienced unprecedented growth since the pandemic, setting records in revenue, customer volume, and profitability. This boom has attracted investors, who have injected a historic 4.2 billion euros into hotel asset transactions in the Islands since 2019, making it the largest investment of its kind across Spain.
A recent Deloitte report, titled The Hotel Sector in the Canary Islands, highlights the remarkable resilience shown by the destination over the past six years. As evidence, 2023 saw a record high of 1.175 billion euros in investment, with the Islands accounting for 28% of the total negotiated in Spain during that year.
Even though 2024 had already been a stellar year with 664 million euros distributed across 20 operations, the autonomous community once again took the lead in the Spanish market. The 1.039 billion euros achieved last year represented 24% of the national total, nearly a quarter of the country's total investment.
The new peak of activity also occurred in a context of a «strong rebound in price per room».
This surge in activity took place amidst a sharp rise in the price per room, with investors paying 205,000 euros for each acquired room, 46% more than in 2024. This indicates that, despite demand pressure driving up prices, investors continue to see significant profit margins in the Canarian accommodation sector.
The primary driver of this investor appetite is the sector's consistent performance year after year. Traveler spending in 2025 reached 24.443 billion euros, representing a 45% increase in just six years. Although costs and prices soared from the inflationary period in 2021, demand has allowed prices to grow even further in a prolonged upward rally.
This situation has enabled the sector, severely impacted by pandemic restrictions, not only to recover losses but also to boost profit margins beyond the most optimistic forecasts during the coronavirus wave. This, combined with large investment funds' strategy to divest after achieving high returns over the past decade, has created a favorable moment for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the Canarian market.
Last year's most significant transaction was the sale of the Mare Nostrum complex in Tenerife to Spring Hotels by the Canadian multinational Brookfield, valued at 430 million euros. Brookfield had acquired the Selenta Group, which included Mare Nostrum, for 440 million just four years prior, amidst the health crisis.
Despite the success, the consultancy warns about the scarcity of available assets in prime destinations such as South Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote. It also points to discrepancies between sellers' valuations and investors' acceptable limits, especially in an environment of high interest rates. Regulations limiting new licenses and the limited experience of some local companies in M&A processes also pose challenges.
The data solidifies the Canary Islands as Spain's second-largest tourism market by spending volume, only surpassed by Catalonia, reinforcing its historical importance in the Spanish tourism GDP. The Deloitte report also ranks local companies in the sector by revenue, with Lopesan (571 million euros) leading, followed by Grupo Martinón (379 million) and Fedola (142 million).
