Over the past few months I’ve been reading about the number of visitors travelling to Lanzarote this year – and it appears that they have been dropping.

Why is that?

I have a theory – and it is only partly to do with the economic climate.

Earlier this year, I tried to book flights from Frankfurt to Lanzarote.  This was not easy, as although there were plenty of places available on flights to Spain, the was a distinct lack of places on direct flights between Madrid and Arrecife, with Iberia offering my flights to Las Palmas instead (following by a short island hop on Binter Canarias).  Other options included spending a night on Madrid, or flying via Amsterdam!

So what is my theory?  Well, I am wondering if the lack of visitors is due to the lack of flights.  It is not because people don’t want to go, but because they can’t get there.

I feel that my suspicions were also confirmed by the news that Ryan Air was receiving a 100% discount on airport tax in Arrecife, encouraging them to take up Lanzarote as a new destination.

Did the major airlines decided at the beginning of the year, that people would not want to fly and so cut back the number of flights to the island?  Is that causing the problem?

What do you think?