President of RTK, the leading German travel agency network Thomas Bösl, said Monday that sales of tourist packages to Tenerife have grown by 34% by the crisis in other destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt or Turkey.
Bösl has thus expressed in a press conference which took stock of the annual meeting of RTK, which has gathered this weekend to 750 professionals on the island, an initiative that has enjoyed the patronage of the Cabildo through Turismo de Tenerife and the Canary Islands Government-Promotor, supported by Turespaña.
The president of the Cabildo, Carlos Alonso, stressed that the “strategy” of the Cabildo goes not only to increase the number of German tourists coming to spend their holidays to Tenerife, but above all, to generate “more spending on Tenerife” .
Alonso highlighted the island experience in organizing such events carried out by travel agents in the main markets, such as ABTA conventions, which were organized twice, and Triton, both British; DRV the German network; SNAV for France and the ‘Come to Tenerife’ event focused on the Spanish market.
In the same line said the insular Minister of Tourism, Alberto Bernabe, who emphasized that for the first time, the annual meeting of the RTK “has emerged from a closed area and the participants were able to travel around the island despite the riskiness of the format, especially for the effort on logistics, moving buses with up to 80 participants in the different excursions”.
Bösl has described as “successful” convention “because it has allowed to show travel agents associated with all the possibilities that Tenerife offers so that then can move their impressions to their customers.”
“The whole agency network RTK is prescribers of fate,” said the delegate in the Canary Islands Association, Wendy Lopez-Trejo, who has found satisfaction of all participants for the opportunity to enjoy a few days of “intense “experience in Tenerife.
TENERIFE EXPERIENCE
It is not the first time that the island is organizing an event of this nature. The first was in 1997, the annual convention of ABTA, the first British tourist association repeated ten years later on the island attended by 1,200 industry professionals.
In 2006 Tenerife hosted two major events: the convention of the Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators Germany (DRV), with the participation of 900 professionals and thirty major media in the country, and the convention of the consortium of agencies British independent travel Triton in 2006, with 800 participating agents.
Already in 2008 they met in Tenerife about 1,200 travel agents from all over Spain in the ‘Come to Tenerife’ event.
Later, in 2013, the convention attracted 350 SNAV travel agents.
The German traveler greatly appreciates the attractions of the island, especially natural spaces, the diversity of options to choose from, authenticity-which includes everything from flirtatious villages to original traditions through exquisite cuisine but both simple and elaborate with frescos– products, Tenerife wines, friendly character of the people, and of course, the weather.
RTK brings together some 4,000 travel agencies that collectively reach a turnover of over 3,000 million euros.
In addition to agencies RTK, network include those of the FTI, Neckermann Reise, Mein Reise Bureau and TUI Travel Star tour operators. Those attending the meeting are owners and officials of the member agencies of the association as well as airlines and other companies within the German tourism sector.
The Germans are the third largest market for Tenerife, where they spent their holidays in 2015 almost 600,000 travelers of that nationality.
Its market share is 11.4% of the nearly 5.2 million tourists came to the island last year, only behind the British (with 34% and 1,765,000 tourists), and Spanish ( with 23.1% and 1,200,000 travelers).
The figure has also increased significantly in the first seven months this year, up 11%, reaching 375,000 approximately. In the same period, the increase of places with that market is 12% over the same period last year.
According to the data analyzed by the Research Department of Tourism of Tenerife, 75% of German tourists who spend their holidays on the island takes some activity during their stay, which highlights the visit theme parks.
An even higher percentage, 82%, performs tourist activities, among which the fact that more than half goes to the Teide National Park.
The average age of German visitors is 48 years, and his family average income amounts to 55,000 euros a year. They spend an average of 12.2 days on the island, 67% traveling as a couple, and repetition rate Tenerife holiday stands at 51%.
