· The sporting event recorded a 74% increase compared to last year’s edition, thanks to extensive media coverage and increased spending by foreign runners.

· This Wednesday, Transgrancanaria will open registrations for 2024 with a flash promotion and significant discounts for participants during the first 48 hours.

The 2023 edition of Transgrancanaria generated an economic impact of over 16 million euros. The extensive media coverage given to the sports event, including 17 hours of live streaming on the Internet and over 10 hours on the specialized channel Teledeporte of Radio Televisión Española, along with the increased spending by the more than 3,400 participants, resulted in a 74% increase compared to 2022. On the morning of Tuesday, July 11th, the impact generated by Transgrancanaria in the previous edition was presented at the press room of Gran Canaria Tourism, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and new developments were announced for the upcoming event, which will take place from February 21st to 25th, 2024, with the theme of ‘Kilometer 0’ to promote and support the consumption of local products. The event, chaired by the Tourism councilor, Carlos Álamo, was attended by the sports councilor of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Ramón Suárez; the sports councilor of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Carla Campoamor; and the CEO of Arista Eventos, Fernando González.

The report prepared by the consulting group Innovaris Consultores on the indirect impact highlights the investment made by the 2,200 foreign runners who attended the event, of which 1,249 came from abroad. According to surveys conducted with the participants themselves, it is revealed that each of them had an average daily expenditure of 286 euros with an average stay of 6.86 days, a figure higher than the average tourist visiting the island, which stands at 171 euros. The study also highlights that each athlete was accompanied by 2.1 people.

“One of the objectives of Gran Canaria Tourism is to find a showcase to promote our tourist destination since more and more tourists come to Gran Canaria looking for more than just sun and beach, and the opportunities that international sports events provide us are very important,” said Carlos Álamo, who emphasized the importance of the data extracted in the impact study, stating that “participants are tourists who spend more money than traditional tourists, and the images we obtain through these events are magnificent images that we take to different international fairs and help us promote Gran Canaria a little bit,” concluded the Tourism councilor.

The study estimates an indirect economic impact of 9.8 million euros, an 18% increase compared to last year’s edition, despite the number of foreign athletes being practically the same in both editions. It also highlights the high level of satisfaction among the runners, who rated their experience on the island with a score of 8.79 out of 10, indicating that they enjoyed their visit.

The sports councilor of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Ramón Suárez, also emphasized the importance of the figures generated by Transgrancanaria. “The numbers speak for themselves, for the municipality and for the island as a whole, what is generated during and before Transgrancanaria is very important, with more than 3,500 participants and the economic impact for the destination, for San Bartolomé and for Gran Canaria, which leads us to continue supporting this type of sports events,” he explained.

Carla Campoamor, sports councilor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, stated, “It is an honor to host the start of the Classic category of Transgrancanaria in an idyllic setting such as Las Canteras Beach, where many tourists are attracted by their participation in the event.”

Economic and touristic relevance of Transgrancanaria for Gran Canaria

In the touristic aspect, it is worth noting that participants rated their travel satisfaction in the island with an 8.7 out of 10, with 52% of them stating that their experience was “better than expected” (31.8%) or “much better than expected” (20.4%). Another noteworthy data is the expenditure made by the runners to participate in Transgrancanaria. Participants make higher tourist spending compared to the average tourist visiting the island, with an investment of 286 euros per day, compared to the 171 euros established by the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC) in the third quarter of 2022, representing a 67% increase. The event also allows for the distribution of investment throughout the entire island. Only the runners who responded to the survey indicated that they stayed in accommodations in 16 out of the 21 municipalities of Gran Canaria, including those that hosted the starts and finishes of the races, such as Agaete and Tejeda, which have overnight stays above the average, as well as less tourist-oriented towns like San Mateo, Santa Brígida, Moya, or Gáldar. Additionally, almost 60% of the respondents mentioned that they rented a car to move around the island, among other services.

The survey also included questions about the companionship of each athlete. Thus, 81% indicated that they arrived on the island accompanied by at least one person, while 19% did so alone. There were large groups of up to four or five people, and even up to 10, resulting in an average of 2.13 companions per participant. “These data,” concludes the consulting group in its conclusions, “show the economic and touristic relevance of Transgrancanaria for Gran Canaria and suggest that the race has a positive impact on the local economy.”

Record audience registered so far in this sport in Spain

The media coverage of Transgrancanaria 2023 tripled compared to the previous year’s edition. The extensive coverage by local, national, and international media, with over 30 accredited journalists, resulted in an impact of 6.2 million euros, compared to 1.3 million euros from the previous edition, representing a 377% increase, according to the study conducted by Innovaris Consultores Group for Arista Eventos, the organizing company of the sports event.

The ultra-distance race set new audience records in this sport in Spain. The live broadcast of the Marathon on Friday and the Classic on Saturday attracted an audience of 1.53 million viewers on Teledeportes. Additionally, there were broadcasts on Esport3 of Televisió de Catalunya and Televisión Canaria, the latter with a four-hour broadcast and its own set in Maspalomas during the finish line of the Saturday race. The streaming broadcast through the official Transgrancanaria account had over 160,000 views on Spanish and, for the first time, English channels.

The main national news programs also covered the sports event. In addition to the daily coverage by Telenoticias of Televisión Canaria, the weekend news program of Antena 3, the most-watched in the country, included a two-minute segment highlighting Andreu Simón’s victory in the Classic category. The Telediario of Televisión Española also featured a one-minute report on Simón’s triumph, who suffers from diabetes. The news program TV3 from Catalonia also reported on the victory of the Catalan runner during the same weekend.

Growth in social media

Transgrancanaria has established itself as the sports event with the most followers on social media throughout the Archipelago and ranks among the top seven most followed trail running races internationally. The official Instagram account has 52,000 followers, thanks to the significant growth it experienced during the last edition, with a 15% increase in users who want to stay updated with the latest event news. On that social media platform alone, the videos produced by the official Transgrancanaria account had over 1.3 million views.

Registration opening for 2024 with significant discounts

This Wednesday, July 12th, registrations will open for the Transgrancanaria 2024. Starting at 12:00 local time, the registration platform will be available on the website www.transgrancanaria.net. This year, there will be a special “flash” period with reduced prices for those who sign up during the first 48 hours. Arista Eventos, the organizing company, has decided to maintain the same rates for the fourth consecutive year, despite the inflation recorded throughout Europe in the past year.

The registration prices will be divided into three periods. The first period, during the first 48 hours, will offer a special promotion with significant discounts for all race categories. The second period will start on July 14th at 12:00 and will have reduced prices until November 2nd. After that date, the registration fee will be the normal price.

Additionally, Canary Islands residents will receive a 20% discount, as in previous years, aiming to encourage the practice of trail running among the local population. With this pricing system, a Canarian runner will be able to register for the Classic category during the first 48 hours for a price of 112 euros, 88 euros for the Advanced category, 52 euros for the Marathon, 28 euros for the Starter, and 16 euros for the Promo and Kilometer Vertical categories.

Transgrancanaria Kilometer 0

The theme for the upcoming edition of Transgrancanaria will be “Kilometer 0” to support and promote local products. Over the next few months, the organization will carry out a campaign to promote products made by local farmers and artisans, aiming to encourage their consumption and reduce transportation pollution. Fernando González, CEO of Arista Eventos, highlighted that most of the products consumed during Transgrancanaria are from Kilometer 0, emphasizing that “we are not only talking about agricultural and livestock products but also about the sound and image industry, assembly technicians, and even Arista Eventos itself, the organizer of Transgrancanaria, which is 100% local product”.

In an effort to make the sports event more sustainable, Transgrancanaria aims to promote the discovery of products grown or made in the archipelago to participants, with special attention to farmers, livestock breeders, and artisans who use local resources. They also aim to support companies that generate the economy through local production.

Transgrancanaria is sponsored by the institutions of Gran Canaria Island, including Gran Canaria Tourism, Gran Canaria European Island of Sport, the Government of the Canary Islands through Islas Canarias Latitud de Vida, Maspalomas Costa Canaria, the Municipal Sports Institute of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the Tejeda City Council. The event is also supported by companies such as Fred. Olsen Express, San Roque University Hospitals, Expomeloneras, 226ERS, and Sonocom Audiovisuals.