Lanzarote´s tourism industry maintained a flying start to 2008 last month. According to figures recently released by the Cabildo de Lanzarote. Which reveal that foreign visitor numbers were up by 5.2% on March 2007. And have risen by 8.7% overall for the first quarter of the year.
Despite the credit crunch and the weakening pound the island’s tourist industry remains buoyant. According to newly released figures from the island government. With 452,830 foreign visitors holidaying on Lanzarote during the first quarter of 2008 – up from 416,192 for the same period in 2007.
British tourists continue to lead the way – with total visits numbering 82,940 – up by 5.1% for March versus 2007. Whilst the Irish market once again weighed in with a hefty increase of 13% – and total tourist numbers for March of 18,566.
Lanzarote´s second biggest market – Germany – also showed a small but positive increase in figures, reversing the negative trend of previous months, with 32,329 visitors – a 1.5% upswing on March 2007.
And the renaissance in Scandinavian tourism continued – with Norwegian visitor numbers up 10.3% and Swedish tourist visits up 12.5%.
In part, the inter annual increases for March can be attributed to the fact that the month encompassed an early Easter. However, the increase in overall foreign visitor numbers during both January (12.1%) and February (9.8%) gives some credence to the evolution of a positive, upward trend for tourism throughout 2008.
All Photos © James Mitchell
