How many tourists visit the Canary Islands?
In 2025, the Canary Islands received 18,386,274 tourists.
That is the archipelago’s all-time record, +3.5% above the 17,767,833 of 2024. So far in 2026 (January–June) the figure is 9,065,922 tourists.
Source: ISTAC · FRONTUR-Canarias. Latest data point: June 2026.
Why you will see different figures
Search this question and you get numbers that disagree: 15.7 million, 16 million, 18.4 million. They are not wrong — they count different things. These are the three measures that get mixed up.
| What is counted | 2025 figure | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| Main tourists — everyone arriving in the Canary Islands from outside the archipelago, including residents of mainland Spain | 18,386,274 | ISTAC (FRONTUR-Canarias) |
| International tourists — only those not resident in Spain | ≈ 15.7 million | INE (national FRONTUR) |
| Cruise passengers — calling at a port. Not tourists: they do not stay overnight | 4,708,190 | Cruise Atlantic Islands / port authorities |
The gap between the first two rows is tourists resident in Spain — around 11% of arrivals, per ISTAC’s monthly notes. The two statistics also use different methods: INE measures main destination across Spain while ISTAC measures arrivals to the archipelago, so they do not reconcile to the decimal. This page always uses the ISTAC figure.
Canary Islands tourist numbers by year
| Year | Tourists |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 15,115,709 |
| 2020 COVID | 2,846,806 |
| 2021 | 8,307,165 |
| 2022 | 15,671,683 |
| 2023 | 16,210,911 |
| 2024 | 17,767,833 |
| 2025 record | 18,386,274 |
| 2026 Jan–Jun | 9,065,922 |
2026 is the year in progress (January–June). The full series back to 2015, including the pandemic collapse, is on the evolution page.
Frequently asked questions
How many tourists visit the Canary Islands per month?
In June 2026, the latest published month, 1,297,329 tourists arrived. The 2025 monthly average was around 1,532,190. March is usually the strongest month and May or September the weakest.
Which island receives the most tourists?
Tenerife, with around 40% of all arrivals to the archipelago, followed by Gran Canaria (about 24%), Lanzarote (20%), Fuerteventura (15%) and La Palma (1%).
How many tourists per resident do the Canary Islands get?
The Canary Islands have 2,258,866 residents (register, 1 January 2025) and received 18,386,274 tourists in 2025: about 8.1 tourists per resident per year, one of the highest ratios in Europe.
Where do they come from?
The United Kingdom is the largest source market (32–37% of monthly arrivals), followed by Germany (13–15%) and mainland Spain (10–16%). Around 89% of tourists arrive from abroad.
How often is this figure updated?
ISTAC publishes FRONTUR monthly, four to six weeks after the month ends. This page is updated with each release.