The Tourism Boom (from 1960)

The transformation of the Canaries from a poor agricultural archipelago to a mass tourism destination is one of the most dramatic changes in European tourism history. It all began in the late 1950s when the first charter flights from Scandinavia and the United Kingdom landed.

The chronology of the boom:

• 1957: Opening of Gran Canaria Airport (Gando) for international traffic
• 1960s: First hotel complexes in Playa del Inglés and Puerto de la Cruz. Swedish and German travel companies discover the year-round potential
• 1970s: The construction boom explodes. Playa del Inglés/Maspalomas becomes the largest tourist city in the Canaries. On Tenerife, Los Cristianos/Playa de las Américas grows from nothing
• 1980s: Lanzarote develops thanks to César Manrique's visionary concept as a counter-model — controlled tourism instead of concrete fortresses. Fuerteventura follows with a focus on beaches and windsurfing
• 1990s-2000s: The Canaries reach 10 million tourists annually. All-inclusive resorts dominate the south of the major islands
• 2010s-2020s: Reorientation: Hiking tourism on La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro, ecotourism, digital nomads (especially on Tenerife and Gran Canaria)

Today, the Canaries welcome over 16 million tourists per year — with only 2.2 million inhabitants. Tourism accounts for about 35% of GDP. The downsides — water scarcity, overtourism protests, rising rental prices for locals — have been a hot political topic since 2023. In 2024, there were large demonstrations in Tenerife and Gran Canaria under the motto “Canarias tiene un límite" (The Canaries have a limit).