Canary Islands ports reached pre pandemic figures in terms of passenger traffic

The ports in the Canary Islands announced that between January and June 2022, they transported more than half a million vehicles, a figure that is similar to the one in 2019.

The port facilities of the Puertos Canarios network have registered during the first half of this year a notable increase in passenger traffic in comparison to last year, with 2,002,885 passengers, almost a million more than in the same period of 2021, which certifies the recovery of the usual occupancy levels prior to the pandemic.

Among the ports with the biggest increase in passengers is that of Las Nieves, municipality of Agaete in Gran Canaria, which became the port with the highest traffic of the facilities managed by the Government of the Canary Islands, with 448,302 passengers, a figure well below above the 257,609 registered last year in this same period. These figures make the port of Agaete the main maritime connection hub between the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

The corridor between Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Playa Blanca (Lanzarote), with 433,283 passengers, experienced a considerable increase compared to 2021 as well, when they only registered 196,115 passengers. 

Another notable increase in the facilities managed by Puertos Canarios is that of the port of Morro Jable, in the south of Fuerteventura, with 250,947 users compared to 159,675 in the same period of 2021. Morro Jable is the port where the direct ferry uniting Gran Canaria to Fuerteventura arrives.

Passenger traffic between the island of La Graciosa and Lanzarote through the port of Órzola places this port at 201,414 passengers, a figure even higher than that of 2019, when 188,228 passengers were registered in the same period.

In terms of vehicle traffic, the figure rose to 509,279 passenger cars in the first half of the year, as well as that of buses approaching a thousand movements between the islands. Both figures are considerably higher than those of 2021.

These data once again demonstrate the importance of a good maritime connection between islands for local tourism development. According to the managing director of Puertos Canarios, Manuel Ortega, "there has been a notable growth in the economy of the Canary Islands, given that we are registering figures similar to those in 2019, just before the pandemic, and our network of regional ports once again became one of the most important in Spain as we return to the growth that we experienced years ago”.