The Canary Islands are heading towards another exceptionally strong year for tourism, with the number of international visitors during the first eight months of 2026 coming within 46,500 of last year's record.
New figures from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) show that 10.26 million foreign tourists visited the islands between January and August, just 0.5% fewer than during the same period in 2025.
August itself recorded a slight increase, with 1.24 million international visitors arriving in the archipelago, 0.3% more than in August last year.
The figures mean that 2026 is currently the second-best year on record for foreign tourist arrivals in the Canary Islands at this stage of the year.
Last year ultimately became the islands' busiest tourism year ever, with 15.7 million international visitors and 18.4 million tourists overall when visitors from mainland Spain were included.
With the main winter tourism season still ahead, this year's final figures could once again come close to the record, although the outcome will depend heavily on visitor numbers between October and December.
Tourist spending increases
The latest INE figures also show that international tourists spent €16.38 billion in the Canary Islands between January and August, compared with €16.27 billion during the same period last year.
That represented 16.4% of all international tourist spending recorded across Spain during the eight-month period.
In August alone, international visitors spent €2.29 billion in the islands, an increase of 3.1% compared with the same month in 2025.
Average daily spending per visitor increased by 7.6%, helping to offset a 4.5% reduction in the average length of stay.
The Canary Islands ranked third in Spain for total international tourist expenditure during the first eight months of the year, behind Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
The figures underline the continuing strength of tourism demand for the archipelago despite international arrivals being fractionally below the exceptional levels recorded during 2025.
