The United Kingdom supplied 36% of all tourists to the Canary Islands, with 4.7 million British visitors recorded between January and September 2026. That was 1.3% more than in the same period a year earlier. Tourist spending across the archipelago rose 7% from January to August, according to reporting from the Canary Islands’ World Travel Market programme.
Yet provisional airline schedules for April to October 2027 point to 332,390 fewer seats from the UK, a projected fall of 7.7%. The Canary Islands Government presented the figures at the World Travel Market in London, while cautioning that carriers have yet to complete their seasonal planning.
Across all source markets, planned capacity to the islands is 3.5% below the 2026 summer season. Germany is also expected to fall, with 99,121 fewer seats, or 7.4%. These are schedule estimates, not confirmed final reductions. Separate winter 2026-27 figures presented by Canary Islands tourism officials at WTM showed 104,097 fewer UK-origin seats than the previous winter, a 3.2% decrease, while total international capacity was reported to rise by 3.9%. Scheduled-seat changes track planned capacity, not cancelled bookings or confirmed passenger losses.
The winter changes vary by island. Lanzarote was scheduled to have 33,928 fewer UK seats, down 3.8%, and Gran Canaria about 22,000 fewer. Fuerteventura’s winter programme, beginning on 1 November, included 442,672 regular seats from the UK, its largest source market. Jet2 was also reported to be adding winter seats to the archipelago.
Tourism and Employment Minister Jessica de León said airlines were reviewing routes as fuel and other operating costs rise. She linked some of the uncertainty to families booking closer to departure as household finances come under pressure. Airlines may revise their operations as costs and market conditions change. Fewer scheduled seats do not automatically mean higher fares, though reduced availability can make the cheapest fares harder to find when demand stays strong, particularly around Christmas and school holidays.
The visitor figures show demand from Britain has continued to grow, while the capacity forecast remains subject to commercial decisions by carriers. The Government’s analysis identifies air access and operating costs as the main concerns for the 2027 season, rather than a fall in British visitor numbers.
De León described the coming summer as especially demanding for tourism. José Juan Lorenzo, managing director of Turismo de Islas Canarias, said competition could intensify from destinations with lower cost structures, particularly outside the European Union.
At WTM, Canary Islands representatives discussed the outlook with international operators including TUI and Jet2, and with ABTA, the British travel agents’ association. The delegation also met representatives of Carnival UK, easyJet, DERTOUR, Skyscanner, The Travel Foundation, Asolan, Lopesan and Loro Parque.
At the event, the Regnext Alliance Commission reviewed progress on a programme intended to direct part of tourism’s value towards environmental and social recovery projects in the archipelago. De León said the programme’s operating tools were being finalised. The plan includes rules and project assessment, with results monitoring also planned. A separate Valdecarros development report covered a proposed retail centre within Madrid’s housing expansion.
