Big name entertainers are bringing visitors back to The Canary Islands in big numbers, thanks to the Canarias Live Sun Festival, which also provides resorts with the opportunity to offer guests a glamourous treat.
By: Helen Foster
Some 15 million tourists visit the Canary Islands every year, but the number has been getting more and more difficult for the islands’ tourism providers to maintain.
Competition from cheaper holiday destinations, as well as general social and economic circumstances, are providing new challenges for the industry, according to Dario Morra, production manager of Canarias Live Sun Festival.
Canarias Live Sun Festival was founded in 2007 by a group of businessmen, whose goal was to provide Tenerife with a venue for top quality international music concerts and live entertainment that would attract visitors to the island, particularly away from the peak tourist season.
Morra said: “In recent years the Canary government, together with local authorities and tourist destinations, has executed huge campaigns to get people to come here, investing important sums of money. But the results have not been proportional to the efforts made, possibly because the promotion techniques have already been used for too many years.”
He believed alternative methods of promotion were needed that would be both more efficient and less expensive. His company decided to focus on improving the islands’ cultural offering, organising high-profile events to encourage visitors to the islands during the low season. The first live show – an Elton John concert - took place at Costa Adeje Golf Club in January 2008.
“The concert was an historic event which gave an important boost to our activity, while generating great promotion of Tenerife as a tourist destination,” said Morra.
“The initiative to develop a platform for regular music concerts by the very top artists was appreciated by everyone - tourists and residents,” he added.
The success of the Elton John concert supports his claim, with around half the attendees being visitors to the island.
“According to information provided by Tenerife’s Association of Hotels (ASHOTEL), most hotels were fully booked during the week of the concert,” said Morra. “That figure is totally out of character for that time of the year, which shows how important the concert was for the tourism industry.”
A concert given by Rod Stewart followed on May 16. Three more ‘major’ concerts are planned for 2009, but details are being kept top secret as negotiations continue.
What isn’t a secret is that Canarias Live Sun Festival is forging links with a variety of organisations to develop sponsorship opportunities and affinity marketing deals. Hotels offering free concert tickets to guests as part of their stay package include Adrián, Jardin Tropical, Spring and Paradise Park Resort and Spa.
“We worked on a number of promotions and co-marketing deals over the Rod Stewart concert, collaborating with hotel chains such as Gran Meliá Palacia de Isora, Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque, Iberostar, Abama Ritz Carlton and RCI resorts,” explained Morra. “In a number of cases concert tickets are included in the guest’s package.”
Linking with major companies on the islands will help to make the concerts a regular event, which will have benefits for the islands in tough economic times, according to Morra.“We know that hard times are to come for the tourist industry, so need to be creative in our attempts to survive as well as compete with other tourist areas,” he said.
“Achieving the co-operation of private and public business companies is a must for us, as this will help raise the profile of our product.
“The Sun Festival might be held in Tenerife, but it attracts visitors to all the Canary Islands. The concerts are high profile, dynamic and exciting attractions that capture the attention and imagination. That’s what makes them so important and necessary for the tourism sector in the islands.”
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