The month of August marked the twelfth consecutive month of growth in hotel stays in the popular Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Hotel stays saw a significant rise of 5.7 percent last month compared to the same month last year, totalling over 6.9 million overnight stays.
The figure represents the third-highest number of overnight stays for the month of August in the region’s recorded history.
The number of tourists staying in hotels on islands including Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria also grew by 3.21 percent, with a total of just over one million visitors in August, Canarian Weekly reported.
Of these, 301,917 were Spanish residents (30 percent) while 703,149 (nearly 70 percent) were international tourists, including those from the UK.
Spanish residents showed a slight increase of 0.9 percent from the previous year, while foreign visitors rose by 4.2 percent.
Out of the total overnight stays, 1.38 million, almost 20 percent, were Spanish residents, while 5.53 million were international tourists.
Accompanying this rise, however, was also a rise in prices for hotel rooms. The average daily rate per hotel room in the archipelago has risen to €139.29 (£116.16), an 8.2 percent year-on-year increase. Overall, hotel prices in the region increased by over 5.9 percent compared to 2023.
That being said, hotel occupancy reached 81.2 percent in August, with the sector employing 57,818 people, a 7.3 percent increase from the previous year.
As such, the Canary Islands ranked second in Spain for occupancy rates, behind the Balearic Islands at just under 90 percent and ahead of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, at 80.2 percent. Regions with lower occupancy rates included Castilla-La Mancha (38.5 percent) Extremadura (50.1), and Madrid (54.3).
On a national scale, the Balearic Islands accounted for the highest percentage of overnight stays in Spain in August at 23.8 percent, followed by Catalonia with 18.6 percent and Andalusia with 15.5 percent.