An island in the Canaries is offering airlines financial support to launch new flights to the UK after seeing its international connections plummet.

Airlines will receive up to €200,000 for each new route to La Palma.

Funds will be given for marketing campaigns in their home markets, although no further details of how the money will be allocated were provided.

During the summer, La Palma saw its international air links fall by almost 17%, and it’s expecting a further fall of up to almost 22% this winter.

The island receives only a fraction of the number of tourists who flock to neighbouring Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.

Tenerife attracted 2.7m tourists in 2021, Gran Canaria received 1.8m and Lanzarote 1.1m, but La Palma had only 110,000 foreign visitors.

“Therefore, the purpose of this aid is focused on increasing international connections with the aim of attracting more foreign tourists,” said Minister for Tourism Yaiza Castilla. 

The Government of the Canary Islands is looking to attract 18 new routes to La Palma, with airlines offered up to 50% of the cost of the air passengers tax as a financial incentive.

La Palma wants to see new flights to the UK, as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden.

Canary Islands Tourism has selected UK airports with a high volume of flights to the rest of the Canaries but not La Palma, but it hasn’t said which ones.

To qualify for the incentive, airlines must launch totally new routes or commit to operate them for at least two years.