Just as Mamma Mia benefited the tourist trade on the Greek Island of Skopelos Broken Embraces is expected to ignite interest in the most easterly Canary Island of Lanzarote.  Already a popular holiday destination attracting over one million British and Irish tourists during the course of 2008.

 So what sort of holiday experience can first time visitors to the island expect?

Weather & Climate

Lanzarote enjoys a great year round climate with temperatures rarely falling below 20 Celsius – even during the winter months.  With temperatures reaching 27 Celsius on average across the summer months. Rainfall is also very low – averaging out at less than 1cm a month.

Accommodation

There are some high quality hotels in Lanzarote – the bulk of which are located in and around the island’s southern most resort of Playa Blanca.  The five star Gran Melia Volcan, located next to the Marina Rubicon development offers the sort of luxury film stars would be accustomed too.

 But there’s also a wide choice of good value four star establishments – such as the Hesperia Playa Dorada, Princess Yaiza and Lanzarote Princess.  Where room rates start from a more reasonable €85 per night.

Arriving in Lanzarote

Flights to Lanzarote last a bearable four hours – and as the island is also quite small, just 58km by 34km, transfer times are also minimal.  The oldest and most popular resort of Puerto del Carmen for example is just ten minutes from the islands main airport.

Exploring Lanzarote

These same dimensions also make Lanzarote very easy to explore.  Aided by the fact that both car hire and petrol are also very reasonably priced.  With car hire rates starting from around €20 per day.

Key Attractions

Lanzarote boasts a set of unique tourist attractions which were developed under the aegis of the island born artist Cesar Manrique.  A number of these feature in the new Almodovar movie – such as the giant wind toy Phobos, located just outside the Cesar Manrique Foundation in Tahiche.

 Some of the islands natural beauty spots – such as the breathtaking beach at Famara and the famous green lagoon at El Golfo also play a starring role.

 Once a small fishing village called La Tiñosa, the resort has exploded since package tourism first took off on Lanzarote back in the 1970´s.  Transforming this quiet pueblo into the most popular holiday destination on the island.  Creating a magnet for both holiday makers and overseas property investors alike  – attracted by the year round rental returns generated by this buoyant tourist trade.

 But to a large extent Puerto del Carmen has also become a victim of its own success.  As thirty years of tourism have had a deleterious effect upon the resorts infrastructure.  Leaving it looking tired and a little downmarket.

 Nowehere is this more apparent than on the main ´shop front´ of the resort – the Avenida de las Playas.  Which runs for 6km along the sea front and which is home to a host of neon lit bars and restaurants.  

 Here tourists have to jostle for space so limited is the pavement area –and cars rule the roost – with two lanes of traffic passing by just inches away.  Creating a very poor impression – especially by comparison with other purpose built holiday destinations around the world, such as Dubai.

 As a result, island authorities have resolved to reinvent tourism in the resort by green lighting a multi million euro improvement scheme that will not only improve the tourist offering but also add a new marina in what is currently the Old Town Harbour area.  Which is expected to have a positive impact upon the market for property in Puerto del Carmen over the long term.

 The first phases of this project are in fact already underway.  As plans to part pedestrianise the Avenida de las Playas are already in motion.  Island authorities then plan to impose new shop fronts and fascias on to all of the businesses lining the ´strip’ – in order co create a more aesthetically pleasing image for the resort.

 Perhaps most ambitious though are the plans to transform the Old Town harbour area into a luxury marina.  In a bid to emulate the success of nearby Puerto Calero – which has proved to be a fantastically popular mooring spot with owners of luxury yachts and cruisers.

 Currently the Old Town harbour is home to a few old fishing boats but the redevelopment plans encompass the creation of smart new jetties and boardwalks.  Which in tandem with the opening of a new golf course on the outskirts of Puerto del Carmen next year is expected to attract a more affluent type of tourist to the resort.

The AENA figures will confound many industry observers who have been predicting the death of the foreign holiday.  As Lanzarote has now welcomed 509,755 British tourists during the first six months of 2008.  An increase of 15.6% on the same period during 2007.

And it´s not just British consumers who are refusing to give up their week in the sun.  As foreign visitor numbers to the island as a whole have increased by 5.9% during the first six months of the year.  With the Irish market also contributing to this upward trend – with 123,047 tourists from Eire visiting Lanzarote over the same period.  An increase of 5.4% versus last year. 

The news makes welcome reading for the many overseas owners of holiday villas in Lanzarote.  As thousands of British and Irish investors have taken the plunge into ownership on the island over the last decade. 

Attracted by the fact that Lanzarote boasts a year round clement climate that also delivers year round rental returns.  A claim that no other European sun spot can truly match.

Currently, the Lanzarote property market is softening – in tandem with most other markets across Spain and Europe.  Primarily as a result of international pressures rather than any domestic detoriation.  As Lanzarote´s main industry is tourism – which clearly remains in excellent health in light of this strong first half performance.

This favorable geographic location – the island sits on the same line of longitude as parts of Florida and Mexico – creates a clement year round climate with temperatures that rarely fall below 20c.  Even in the depths of winter.

As a result Lanzarote – along with its Canarian cousins – is the only genuine winter sun destination in Europe.  And at only four hours flying time from the UK this means that the islands attract flocks of tourists – with over one million visitors from the UK and Ireland visiting Lanzarote during 2007 alone.

The cast majority come for a traditional beach holiday – as the island boasts over 90 great stretches of sand, the vast majority of which are made up of golden grains rather than the black volcanic variety.  So tourism is largely concentrated in the main resorts of Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca and Costa Teguise.

But Lanzarote has plenty to offer beyond just bucket and spade holidays.  The island is blessed with more than its fair share of natural beauty – from the arid volcanic lava fields of the south through to lush palm packed valleys in the North.

And in many locations Mother Natures work has been further enhanced by the hand of an island born artist and architect called Cesar Manrique.  Who created a unique range of tourist attractions during the 1970´s as an antidote to the many water parks and gold courses that were springing up in other Spanish sun posts as tourism first took off.

Amongst the most impressive of these is the Jameos del Agua – an incredible underground grotto built into a collapsed lava tube – which was described by Hollywood legend Rita Heyworth as the eighth wonder of the world.

The Mirador del Rio – an incredible look out point giving a bird’s eye view across to the neighbouring island of La Graciosa.  And The Jardin de Cactus in Guiatiza – which is a celebration of the plant worlds spiniest species.  And Manrique ´s own house in Tahiche – surely the most unusual property in Lanzarote.  Built into five underground volcanic chambers.

Whilst Lanzarote offers sunshine and low rainfall all year round the best times of the year to visit are during September and October.  When the Trade Winds which blow across the island have died down a little, the heat of summer has eased and the sea is at its warmest.

And despite Lanzarote´s enormous popularity as a tourist destination the island remains relatively unspoiled.  As development has been carefully controlled to ensure that it has not been submerged beneath a sea of five star concrete.

To find out more about Lanzarote and it’s many attractions visit the informative Lanzarote tourist guide – Lanzarote Guidebook – where you can download a free 112 page Guidebook to the island.