21st Feb 2022 @ 11:45 am

October 2021 saw Lanzarote record its highest number of passengers since March 2020 and while the island still has a long way to go before reaching pre-covid levels of tourism, it’s heading in the right direction.

The Cesar Manrique airport recorded a 380% increase in passengers last month compared to the year previous. Although the number of total passengers fell by 12% compared to the previous month (December 2021), starting the year with 400,000+ passenger arrivals is encouraging.

Despite travel restrictions, more than a billion Euros was spent on tourism to Lanzarote in 2021. The Canarian Institute of Statistics (ISTAC) has analysed the expenditure on Lanzarote tourism, including payments at origin as well as on the island, and has produced a sum of €1,128.6 million Euros for 2021.

The most important market was the United Kingdom, with British tourists spending €347 million last year. National tourism from Spain came next, with €214 million. British and Spanish tourists accounted for over half the tourism on Lanzarote last year.

The next most important markets were Germany, the Netherlands. Scandinavia, Ireland, France and Italy, in that order. 

Each tourist spent an average of €144 a day, including expenditure on flights. This figure is an improvement on previous years.  

Tourist Centres record over 1 million visitors in 2021

The Lanzarote tourist centres finished the year with 600,000+ more visitors than 2020. The attractions which recorded the highest number of visitors were Timanfaya (457,698), followed by Jameos del Agua (437,360), Cueva de Los Verdes (302,171), Jardín de Cactus (244,911), Mirador del Río (243,897) and Castillo de San José (42,112).

Total passengers 2016 – 2021 (data provided by Lanzarote Data Centre):

2016 – 6,683,966

2017 – 7,389,025 (+10%)

2018 – 7,327,019 (-0.8%)

2019 – 7,292,720 (-0.4%)

2020 – 2,538,338 (-65%)

2021 – 3,438,407 (+35%)

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