In recent years, the Canary Islands have become a top tourist destination, attracting millions of visitors every year. The archipelago, located in the Atlantic Ocean, boasts a warm climate, beautiful beaches, stunning landscapes, and a rich culture and history. As a result of its popularity, the local tourism industry has seen a significant boost in recent years, with private holiday homes registering their highest occupancy rates in history.
According to a report by the Canarian Vacation Rental Association (ASCAV), there are now more than 40,000 tourist apartments in the Canary Islands, representing 30% of all beds available to tourists, 10% more than before the pandemic. Private holiday homes turned over two billion euros on the islands per year.
This increase mainly occurred because, since the pandemic, many visitors preferred to stay in an individual home than in a hotel due to the risk of Covid, and after trying this travel option, many have continued to come back in the same way hence the record occupancy figures.
In 2018 the Supreme Court overruled the government’s vacation rental decree that tried to prevent private holiday homes in tourist areas, and since then it has not stopped growing. As a result, the market has become increasingly competitive, with property owners and rental companies vying for a share of the booming tourism industry.
This winter the average occupancy of private holiday homes has been 85%, with them being completely full on key dates such as Christmas or Easter. In February, occupancy was almost 88%, which means that it was “the best complete month in history”, according to the president of the Canarian Vacation Rental Association (ASCAV), Doris Borrego.
As she points out, most of the tourists renting holiday homes and villas are from northern and central Europe and with an average stay of 14 days, who spend 2,500 euros on accommodation. “Many of our customers are repeat customers. In fact, we already have reservations for next winter”, she says and confirms that this Easter, as in 2022, holiday homes will be completely full.
This same model must be completed by the owner, accounting for the income received by the platform or, by the user if there has been no intermediation, and then the user must provide the information in their personal income tax return. This means that renting private properties and not paying taxes accordingly is getting more difficult and more controlled already.
Last month, Tenerife had the highest hotel rates in all of Spain, with an average of 129 euros per night, according to data from the Hotel section of the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The Canary Islands as a whole had the highest hotel rates, with Catalonia following close behind with an average rate of 120 euros per night, and Madrid with 106.20 euros.
In terms of overnight stays and occupancy by tourist area, Tenerife was the most popular destination, registering the highest number of overnight stays in February with 2,064,727. The South of Tenerife also reached the highest degree of occupancy on weekends at 79.3%, while the South of Gran Canaria had the highest degree of occupancy by bed places at 78.1%.
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