Tourist arrivals on the small Canary Island of Lanzarote continue to take off, according to the latest data just released by ISTAC, the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics.  As the number of holidaymakers touching down at the island’s sole international airport climbed again in September by 5.29% – creating a seven month run of consecutive growth.

Lanzarote has long been a hot favourite for both winter and summer sun holidays – as like the rest of the Canary Islands it is located just off the coast of Africa and enjoys warm weather all year round. 

As a result tourist figures have remained relatively buoyant throughout the recession – but now look set to soar as the economic situation starts to improve in key markets such as the UK and Eire, with passenger numbers from Britain and the Republic climbing by 9.1%and 18.8% respectively during September alone.

Eire is Lanzarote’s third largest source of foreign tourists (after the UK and Germany) and the recovery in passenger arrivals there has been nothing short of remarkable during the course of this year.  As the total number of tourists visiting Lanzarote from the Emerald Isle has grown by a whopping 21% across the first nine months of 2013 and is now expected to exceed 200,000 passengers for the year as a whole.

Britain however has long been the key engine room for Lanzarote´s tourist sector – accounting for around 45% of foreign arrivals each year.  And this figure also looks set to grow further in 2013 as UK passenger numbers have already climbed by 4.5% for the year to date, with a total of 707,117 UK tourists taking a break on the island.

This is all of course excellent news for Lanzarote´s tourist industry, not least the accommodation sector.  Where locally based suppliers such as Optima Villas are reaping the benefit in terms of increased bookings.  “We´ve just enjoyed a record month in October”, states company spokesperson Nick Ball; “Our bookings this month have grown by 20% year on year, thanks to growing demand from both the UK and Eire.  We also hope to continue this trend with the launch of our dedicated website in Ireland, which should be online by January 2014”.