In the tourism industry, weddings serve as a way to sell honeymoons to tourists. The evolution of heterosexual marriages in the Canary Islands and in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana from 1996 to 2024 paints a complex picture marked by profound social transformations and economic cycles. The municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana shows a particular trajectory conditioned by its status as a predominantly tourist destination and demographically dynamic area. In 1996, the town recorded 164 heterosexual marriages, a figure very close to the 162 recorded in 1997 and the 149 in 1998. During the early 2000s, the municipality fluctuated with moderate ups and downs, recording 141 unions in 2000, 123 in 2002 and a rebound to 161 in 2007, just before the outbreak of the international financial crisis.
The 2010s brought remarkable figures to the southern municipality, reaching its all-time high in 2012 with a total of 178 marriages and a positive year-on-year growth rate of 35,88%, representing 47 additional unions compared to 2011, when 131 weddings were recorded. In subsequent years, San Bartolomé de Tirajana experienced fluctuating numbers, with 163 marriages in 2015, 168 in 2017, 172 in 2018, and 165 in 2019, demonstrating relative stability in wedding celebrations prior to the global health crisis.
The outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 hit the event and wedding planning sector in the tourist municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana particularly hard. The town suffered a 63,03% year-on-year drop in its wedding rate, plummeting to just 61 weddings, a decrease of 104 compared to the 165 recorded the previous year. This percentage decline far exceeded the average drop experienced across the Canary Islands as a whole, reflecting the high economic and social vulnerability of southern Gran Canaria during the months of strict lockdown and capacity restrictions.
The recovery from the health crisis in the southern municipality has been characterized by high volatility in annual statistics. In 2021, marriages rebounded to 133, climbing to 140 in 2022 and registering 138 in 2023. The latest official figures for 2024 recorded 125 heterosexual marriages in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, representing a year-on-year decrease of 9,42% and a loss of 13 marriages compared to the previous year, demonstrating that a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels still faces structural obstacles in the region.
Across the Canary Islands, the statistical series begins in 1996 with 7.670 weddings, reaching its peak at the end of that decade, specifically in 1998 with 8.091 marriages and in 1999 with 8.025 official ceremonies. From this high point, marriage rates in the Canary Islands experienced a general downward trend throughout the 2000s, influenced by the economic slowdown and changes in family structures. This decline continued until reaching the lowest point of the pre-financial crisis period around 2012 and 2013, the latter year in which the archipelago recorded 5.980 weddings. Subsequently, the region began a phase of moderate recovery, raising the figures to 7.388 marriages in 2019.
The year 2020 marked a radical turning point in official statistics due to mobility restrictions and the cancellation of ceremonies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the Canary Islands, the number of heterosexual marriages plummeted by 37,63%, falling from 7.388 in 2019 to just 4.608 in 2020, representing a net loss of 2.780 unions in a mere twelve months. Following this historic collapse, the islands experienced a gradual recovery, with 6.480 marriages in 2021, 7.293 in 2022, a slight decrease to 6.890 in 2023, and a subsequent rebound that brought the total for 2024 to 7.256, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 5,31%.
