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Once again, Promotur Turismo Canarias attended the IBTM WORLD, the most highly renowned annual forum of conventions, congresses and incentives, aiming to strengthen a sector which brought more than 200,000 tourists to the Islands in 2018 and that takes part in keeping the Canary Islands present at key markets.

For three days, more than 13,000 professional organisers attended the occasion in Barcelona aiming to find destinations to hold this type of events. This is therefore a great chance to show the wide range of accommodation on offer as well as state-of-the-art facilities, such as houses of congress and exhibition centres that are available in the Canary Islands. In addition, there are leisure programmes associated to the good weather on the islands all year round.

During this edition of the IBTM, it was clear that the MICE segment keeps on growing with the introduction of new industries related to health and mobility that call for suitable places to hold congresses and conventions. The Canarian delegation took this chance to show the benefits the islands offer compared to other competing destinations, highlighting the weather, the excellent flight connections, safety, local cuisine, leisure and other outdoor activities, during the many meetings held at the event.

The Canary Islands stand at the IBTM, 85% co-funded by the Regional European Development Fund (FEDER), held a total of 22 tourist companies from Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, as well as public entities like the convention bureau and tourism boards.

178 millions in income

MICE tourism, that stands for meetings, incentives, conventions and events, in English, promotes an increase in the spending of visitors at their destination, and expands financial activities related to tourism to other sectors, increasing the value chain. In this regard, the average daily spending of those tourists is 145 euros, resulting in a total of 178 millions. The average stay lasts 9.43 days and 37.5% of visitors stay at four-star hotels. In addition, visitors spend 76.7% in bars and coffee shops, which is above the average, 63.3%.

On the other hand, Gran Canaria accommodates 51.9% of these travellers, followed by Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, which explains why many of the professional events require high capacity venues such as houses of congress and hotels with a significant number of rooms available, needs which the main islands can meet more accordingly for this kind of event.

Profile of MICE tourists

MICE tourists mainly come from Mainland Spain (58.5%), followed, although not closely, by Germany (8.3%), the United Kingdom (7.7%), Italy (3.8%) and other countries. 62.4% travel alone, and there are more men than women (76.6% as opposed to 23.4%), and the average age is 41.4 years. Most of them are company workers (60%), although there are also some self-employed visitors (22.8%) and entrepreneurs (16.5%). 85% have higher education studies. 26.3 % earn more than 75,000 euros a year, and  33.7 % between 25,000 and 50,000 euros a year.