Canary Islands Tourism targets long-stay “silver” tourists
Canary Islands Tourism has launched a new action plan to attract the ‘silver-plus’ demographic – people over 55 years of age craving a long stay holiday.
The objective is to double ‘silver’ tourist spending on the islands to €770 million per year.
The Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, and the Director of Communications and Marketing Projects for Canary Islands Tourism, Alberto Ávila, presented a strategy, which is centred around the concept ‘Take a life break in the best climate in the world.’
According to Castilla, the silver economy accounts for 25% of GDP in Europe and more than 45% of world consumption, which is why experts define it as a new economic engine.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that the population aged 60 and over will make more than two billion international trips by 2050
The ‘silver-plus’ visitor is one of three segments of long-stay tourists, together with remote workers and professional sports tourists, to whom Canary Islands Tourism will allocate a budget of €1.5 million in 2022.
"Our proposal reflects an unprecedented commitment to diversification", said Castilla.
A minimum of €500,000 will be invested in ‘silver plus’ tourism next year.
However, the implementation began this year with an additional budget of approximately €250,000 for the month of December.
"We have already started to position ourselves in the minds of potential consumers and from the Spanish market will have already been receiving initial results from the tourist proposal. We are determined to work intensively on important niche segments for the Canary Islands brand."
Castilla added: "The Canary Islands should be a priority destination for silver tourists. It is an opportunity for economic and social development that the Canary Islands shouldn’t miss".
In 2019 mature travellers accounted for 34% of the overall number of Canary Islands arrivals.
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