Survery Says Tourists Trust The Canary Islands

Canary Islands

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The Ministry of Tourism conducted a survey of more than 30,000 travellers to find out which aspects of security are relevant to the re-opening of the destination, and most of them agree that carrying out the tests gives you greater peace of mind.


As pointed out by the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, "the objective is to test what we are doing and for the tourist himself to indicate his expectations in order to adjust our reality as much as possible when taking preventive measures to avoid possible contagions. We must not forget that from now on, confidence in health security is as important a value as others when choosing where to travel. "

In the presentation of the results of the survey at the Canary Islands Tourism Council held this morning, Castilla was accompanied by Cristina del Río Fresen, director of the Canarias Fortaleza Project, who assured that “currently some of the procedures designed between the Laboratory expert groups are being reviewed fortheir efficiency, so it is important to have the opinion of tourists. Knowing that we are concerned, we want to get as close as possible to what they expect when they arrive.

The field work was carried out between June 8th and 28th, although the survey will remain open for a time to collect as much information as possible, and has had a sample of 31,630 travellers who already know the Canary Islands for previous stays and who for this reason, they can offer more specific data.

Carried out in 11 languages - German, Danish, Spanish, Finnish, French, Dutch, English, Italian, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish - respondents must answer 12 questions regarding various aspects such as their intention to return to the Islands; if the fact of being one of the places in Europe with the lowest contagion rate encourages you to return; the peace of mind that comes from knowing that security protocols have been put in place and what has influenced your decision to book your trip; the importance of preventive measures such as tests or the use of masks; the type of accommodation they prefer or the transport and leisure activities they consider most suitable.

64% of those surveyed plan to come to the Islands during 2020, highlighting the Spanish in 72% , followed by Danish in 70%, Dutch in 69% , French in 68%, and very closely by Germans, English, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish and Finnish. The low incidence in the Canary Islands and the good management of the pandemic generates enough confidence for them to visit us again in a very high percentage, 92%, while the implementation and review of security protocols have a certain influence on the decision to book their holidays. In this case, when evaluating between 1 and 10,they gave it a 7.7 within its scale of aspects to take into account when purchasing the trip . Following this methodology of assigning a score, carrying out tests at origin and destination gets 7.4 points of importance when it comes to giving greater tranquility to travel, the Spaniards believe that this reinforces this tranquility to a greater extent, with an 8.2, followed by Danes and Germans.

The type of accommodation and regime have also changed between what they booked before Covid-19 and what they plan to book on their return. The desire to stay in apartments increases (before 27.4% vs. after 31%), rental housing (before 7.9% vs. after 9.8%) while hotels decreased slightly (before 56.8% vs. after 49.9%).

Regarding leisure activities, many of them plan to change their behavior regarding attendance at events , leisure parks, nightlife, excursions, museums, shopping and even sports activities, and not so much in restaurants, beaches and golf. For their part, the type of transport they would choose is the rental car in 49.2%, followed by taxi in 33.4% and finally bus with 17.4%. In addition, at this point, they consider it necessary for everyone to wear a mask in public transport by 80.3%. They also see it important that the customer service personnel wear a mask in 75.2% and the essential elements to maintain safety in services and premises are the safety distance in 50.2%, and separating elements in 4.6 %.

The survey includes open-ended questions about what are the three elements of protection against Covid-19 that would increase your perception of destination safety. Of the total number of participants, at a general level the distance between people, the use of gel and the use of masks stand out very clearly.

Likewise, the work includes concrete references from the respondents on precautionary measures, where it is emphasized that cleaning is frequent and deep and that they are also witnesses; have disinfectant dispensers in common areas, shops, restaurants; know the existing protocols with information through brochures, information panels, signage, etc.

New Niche Markets

The last questions of the survey seek to discover new market niches and segments to which the post-Covid-19 reality might be more attractive than traditional audiences. For example, 47.2% answered that they consider teleworking as an opportunity to reside part of the year in the Canary Islands. In fact, the interest in this option is shown in all age ranges and even when asked if they plan to spend long periods in the Islands when they retire, 68.4% answered yes, with Italians being the most they want it (86.3%), followed by Germans (72.8%) and Spaniards (71.5%), but it is also confirmed by both 16-year-olds and people over 64, demonstrating that living as soon as they retire in the Archipelago is aspirational for thousands of Europeans, regardless of age

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