Canary Islands Outpace Venice in Overnight Stays
While Venice welcomes 30 million tourists annually, the Canary Islands—with just under 18 million visitors—record the highest lodging pressure in Europe, according to Eurostat. The key difference lies in trip duration. Tourists in Venice stay an average of three days, while visitors to the Canary Islands averaged over nine days in the last quarter of 2022, peaking at 6.3 nights in June (INE data). This extended stay secured the archipelago’s position as Europe’s top destination for overnight stays in 2022, with 89.2 million nights booked—nearly reclaiming its pre-pandemic 2019 record of 96.1 million.
Why Trip Duration Matters
Local business leaders and Jacinto Quevedo, a mathematician at the Canary Islands Academy of Sciences, emphasize the importance of measuring visitor impact beyond sheer numbers. “Tourist arrivals must be analyzed in context with their stay duration,” Quevedo explains. Longer stays mean higher resource consumption—water, energy—and greater preparedness for emergencies. A 2023 Santa Cruz de Tenerife Chamber of Commerce report highlights this nuance: despite a 1.3% drop in average stay length early this year, overnight stays fell only 0.5%, as more tourists arrived but spent fewer days.
Who Stays the Longest?
Trip duration hinges on booking style and origin. Independent travelers stay 10 days on average—1.5 days longer than package tourists. Nordic visitors lead in longevity: 13.7 days when self-organized, 8.7 with tour operators. Germans follow closely (13.5 vs. 9.9 days), while Spanish mainlanders stay shortest due to proximity, lower wages, and less pressure to “maximize” their trip. Rising demand from high-spending foreign tourists also drives price increases across the islands.
