The Canary Islands: Airlines TUI, Jet2 and Ryanair warn UK holidaymakers over soaring hotel prices in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura

Major airlines have issued a warning to UK holidaymakers over soaring hotel prices in the Canary Islands. The airlines have urged hotels and Airbnb owners on the Canary Islands to slash their prices or risk putting holidaymakers off.

Representatives from TUI, Jet2, and Ryanair issued a joint warning to those working in the hospitality trade on islands including Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura after a year of price increases. In 2023 hotel and apartment prices shot up by 10%. 

The average daily room rate in the Canary Islands stood at 138 euros in December - a 9.6% increase in a year. While apartment rates averaged 86 euros, an 11.6% rise.

The increase in prices is partly due to the global inflationary pressures which have seen rises across most parts of the world and an increase in demand as visitors to the islands rose last year. According to Guide to Canary Islands, there are expected to be 14% more passengers visiting the Canary Islands in April than a year ago.

Airlines TUI, Jet2, and Ryanair issued a joint warning at the tourism convention Fitur. Delegates from the companies argued that hospitality bosses should keep price rises as low as possible due to recessions in the UK and Germany. They added that the UK and Germany are also the two main source markets for tourists visiting the Canary Islands.

According to data from the General Council of Notaries, in one 12 month period to August 2023 house prices on the Spanish island chain jumped up 12%. There are also more tourist beds than the ones for locals.

Experts working for campaign group Ben Magec-Ecologists in Action said tourist figures last year revealed a record number of 48 million visitors - and by one estimate, as many as half of these were holidaymakers from the UK.

The organisation's report reads: "The Canary Islands territory was more than overexploited. We had exceeded the carrying capacity of the territory by seven times, resulting in a scenario of systemic collapse due to the urban development structure."