Official figures released by the Tenerife Tourism Corporation show that the largest of the Canary Islands welcomed a total of 2,064,743 visitors from the UK last year, the highest number ever recorded.

The UK market retains its prevailing position as the largest source market to Tenerife, accounting for 36 per cent of all visitors to the island, despite the weak exchange rate tightening British holiday-makers’ belts on the whole.

Alberto Bernabé, tourism minister for the Tenerife government, commented: “Given the ongoing challenges facing the UK economy, we were extremely pleased with the performance of the UK market last year.

“Tenerife remains a top choice for our British counterparts looking for a holiday destination that promises all-year-round spring-like temperatures, beautiful and varied landscape and fine gastronomy.

“We would like to thank all of our valuable partners – including UK tour operators, travel agencies and airlines – for their support throughout 2017 and for helping us to achieve these excellent results.”

In November, it was announced that Tenerife and the Canaries are leading a bid to maintain the freedoms between the islands and Britain post Brexit.

Carlos Alonso, president of the Tenerife Island government, explained: “The British market remains the largest source market for the island, which is why one of our key priorities in 2018 is maintaining the fruitful relations with our British friends.”

Tenerife also saw a record performance from the Irish market in 2017, with a total of 105,431 visitors travelling to Tenerife last year, this is a remarkable 12.8 per cent increase compared to 2016.

Overall, Tenerife welcomed a total of 5,704,047 worldwide visitors in 2017, a 1.9 per cent increase on the previous year.

These visitors stayed for an average of 7.37 days and their total expenditure was €1,085 per person per holiday.