Despite the economic doom and gloom in the UK and the weakness of the Pound against the Euro British tourism actually rose during the course of November 2009.  Up for the first time during the course of last year by nearly 7%.  As the island welcomed an influx of 63,753 visitors from the UK.  A figure much improved on November 2008 when Britain accounted for 59,601 arrivals.

In the months leading up to last summer British tourism had declined by close to 20%.  As consumers in the UK really felt the impact of the economic crisis.  Whilst sterling stumbled against the Euro – making holidays in Lanzarote and other euro zone destinations that much more expensive.

But there was a remarkable turnaround during November – thanks largely to the introduction of a whole raft of new cheap flights to the island from Ryanair.  Who quickly established themselves as the largest carriers of tourists to Lanzarote in their first month of operation.  Transporting a total of 44,232 passengers to the island.

The Irish market also showed small signs of improvement across the same period – with visitor numbers from Eire up by 1.47% during November too.