Despite the current downbeat economic outlook in the UK the number of British tourists boarding flights to Lanzarote continued to climb last month. Along with visitor numbers from the island's other two key markets of Eire and Germany, according to the latest figures just released by ISTAC, the Canarian Institute of Statistics.

British tourist numbers totaled 75,966 arrivals last month, according to the latest ISTAC data, up from 64,026 in June 2010, an increase of 18.7%. And whilst last year can certainly be regarded as a low base figure for comparison, thanks to the impact of factors such as the Ash Cloud crisis and a weak pound, this June arrivals figure for the British market is the best in many years. With only pre-crisis years such as 2005 and 2006 coming anywhere close.

The Irish tourist market has also defied the current economic climate as visitor numbers from Eire rose by a very respectable 11.3% last month versus June 2010, as the island welcomed a total of 18,394 arrivals from the Republic. But on the downside the German market was largely flat during June, despite making impressive gains during the first five months of 2010. With arrivals up by just 1.6% to a total of 20,475 passengers.

Overall, foreign tourism on Lanzarote climbed by 20.7% last month. But this increase was partly offset by the fact that Spanish tourism declined during June by 29.8%. The Spanish market is the island's largest after the UK and arrivals from the mainland fell from 38,408 to 26,964 passengers. Leaving total overall tourist figures for the month up by just 3.9%.