Viva Espana! Struggling Spain is bouncing back with increased bookings, according to a report in the Daily Mirror.

After reports that Brits were still shunning the Costas to save money, online travel and leisure retailer lastminute.com this week revealed that destinations in Spain and the Canary Islands are among its biggest-growing breaks year on year.

Gran Canaria has seen the largest boost, with bookings up 479%. Fuerteventura has also seen many more visitors in 2010, bookings were up 340% compared with July 2009.

The other Canary Islands have also seen visitor numbers rise – Lanzarote is up 132% and Tenerife by 92%. Mainland Spain has also attracted more visitors than in 2009, with bookings to the coastal region of Costa Blanca up by 160% this year.

Spain has historically been popular with UK holidaymakers but bookings were hit last year due to the strong euro.

Lastminute.com’s Mark Bower says: “We’re thrilled to see Spain and the Canary Islands back in our best sellers.”

timesharerelief360 report:

With a new court ruling there is expected to be up to 400,000 illegal timeshare contract compensation claims that could reach up to 2 billion €(euro). It has been ruled that a timeshare developer in Gran Canaria must pay back double the amount of the timeshare deposit by Magistrate D. Juan Carlos Socorro Marrero. There are currently over 200 live claims for timeshare miss-selling in the Spanish court system against Anfi Del Mar. More claims were coming in at a rate of 10 per week before this ruling.

Spanish law also states that even if a property is sold and all encumberments and debts are passed on to the new owners those new owners will still be liable for new compensation claims. Within the industry it is said up to 200 developers that operate out of Spain, Balearics and Canaries are trying to sell of timeshare resorts that have or soon will have actions brought against them.

Some brand name European timeshare developers have been taking illegal deposits up until as late as 2009. The European regulatory body representing timeshare owners in Europe has had some of its paid members break these same laws in the past. With this new ruling timeshare owners will finally get the chance to take on large corporate brand developers. As long as the timeshare development still exists you will be able to reclaim a double deposit if you paid after the cooling off period in 1996.

Gran Canaria

Hopeful reports for the Gran Canaria holidays market has come from the same source that has seen the number of UK visitors slip to the island in the last couple of years - the Foreign Exchange and currency rates.

The British Pound - Sterling - has rallied on the foreign exchanges in the last few weeks, and there are signs that it could go higher against the Euro in the months to come.

Driving down the value of the Euro is the fragile state of the Greek economy, with a high debt ratio to GDP. Other Eurozone countries have rallied around to try and get the Greek debt problem solved, but other memebrs aren’t far behind in being just as vulnerable, Ireland and Cyprus for example.

The Spanish economy is also vulnerable, but if the Euro does fall in value it could mean good news for the Spanish economy overall as a large part of its GDP is from tourism, and Gran Canaria could see the return of British tourists who love the island but have been tempted by cheaper destinations in the last couple of years.

Turkey and Egypt have benefitted at Spain’s expense, as tour operators not only promote good value deals for holidays there, but both are outside the Eurozone where the British Pound still buys a good amount of the local currency.

A British General Election is just weeks away, and opinion polls could send the pound higher or lower, depending upon what they indicate.

The currency markets favour a strong government with a majority in the House of Commons big enough to vote through difficult decisions - if opinion polls show the possibility of a hung parliament where no one party has overall control, it will send sterling down again.

But indications of a comfortable Conservative or Labour victory will help settle the markets over the future of the UK currency.

The election has to be held by early June, with most commentators speculating that Gordon Brown will plump for May 6, when local elections are due too, which would mean more Labour voters turning up to vote, and even if they lost nationally they could hold power in more local authority areas.

And with the election likely to be held in May, if Sterling does increase in value in the weeks after, the timing couldn’t be better for those taking holidays in Gran Canaria who will be able to buy more Euros for their spending money.

It would be good news too for tourists who visit for holidays later in the year - the Gran Canaria weather allows the island to be an all year vacation destination, along with the other Canary Islands, who see holidaymakers escape the Northern Europe chill for a break in the sun.

An increasingly attractive option for those wintering on the island is to have their own home without the cost of buying, through renting with specialist companies who do Gran Canaria villa holidays. Many have their own heated pool for the winter months.

For more photographs of Gran Canaria visit flickr

The Sunday Mirror ran a good article at the weekend about Gran Canaria:

We’d been a bit worried when we heard that the Gran Hotel Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort Spa & Casino had more than 1,000 rooms, fearing this would mean it would be about as relaxing as the average airport terminal.

We needn’t have worried. It was busy but - with the grounds including a tropical garden of 76,000 square metres, four swimming pools and the sandy Maspalomas beach just 200 metres away - the crowds we’d seen at check-in melted away. We stayed half-board in a Junior Suite. The rooms were lovely and spacious, immaculately clean and had a breathtaking view out to sea.

Breakfast and dinner were served buffet-style in two huge restaurants, though there were also two other fancier restaurants in the hotel if you were willing to pay extra.

Most of our days were spent lounging by the infinity pool, with the most strenuous thing we had to do all day being a walk to the bar to buy cold drinks and sandwiches, although we had to be careful, as payment works on a far too simple swipe card system which you settle on check-out.

With a Diet Coke costing an eyewatering four euros (£3.50) a pop, it soon started to mount up. After a while, we noticed most families with kids used to stock up with daily supplies at the local supermarket because it was much cheaper. We realised we would be doing the same thing after the baby arrived - and for the next 30 years.

Had I been feeling more adventurous, the famous Dunes of Maspalomas were only a short distance away, but what with my swollen ankles and aching pregnancy body, the trek didn’t quite appeal.

Instead I headed the few steps down to the hotel spa, which costs 45 euros (£40) per person for the day 52 euros (£46) for non-residents). The fee covers use of all the facilities, although actual treatments cost extra.

Wow! Never mind a day, I could have spent the week cocooned in here. It was like entering nirvana and felt like a global exercise in indulgence.

A carefully thought-out circuit takes you from the heat of the Arabian world to the extreme cold of the North Pole. Pregnancy ruled out the African Sauna and Hamam Turkish Bath (too hot). Nor did I fancy Ice World (4C) and the igloo, although in manly fashion Mike seemed to enjoy panhandling freezing water over himself.

Instead I went and lay in The Lagoon (a lovely 35C), then shifted to exfoliating my feet in the Himalayan Salt Grotto (where my negative ions were supposedly banished), before heading to the Lava Flotation Pool for a touch of Hawaii, rounding off the experience by sipping sweet mint tea in the evening sun in the spa’s garden. I didn’t think the experience could be bettered until we went to a nearby hotel, the Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort and Corallium Thalasso also in Maspalomas. Here, Mike and I had a joint aromatherapy massage. It was very expensive, at 135 euros (£119) each, but took place by the Atlantic and included a private hot tub.

Spa holidays are big in Gran Canaria and have been since the 19th Century. But fashions are changing. While I was seeking some light relief from the rigours of pregnancy, some of my fellow guests appeared to have sought an altogether different kind of life-changing holiday. Looking closely, fading bruises and wide-brimmed hats hinted that some guests had come here for an ego-boosting facelift.

To read the rest of the article click here

For Gran Canaria hotels visit http://www.yourgrancanaria.net

Spa holidays are becoming more popular, and good news for those who like the idea of a spa holiday in Gran Canaria - the International Medical Travel Journal report:

The Spanish Island of Gran Canaria, just off the coast of Morocco, is fast establishing itself as a wellness and health tourism destination, offering facilities and technology at an affordable cost. The doctors and nurses in all hospitals and clinics are well qualified as well as speaking fluent English. The cost of treatment is up to 40% less than other UK and European medical tourism destinations even with the current exchange rate.

Famed for its healthy microclimate averaging 24 degrees all year round and its purifying natural mineral waters and Aloe Vera, Gran Canaria offers perfect conditions in which to recuperate and rejuvenate. It has long attracted holidaymakers in search of blue skies and beaches. Being just a short flight from many EU countries and with some of Europe’s best spa and thalassotherpy facilities makes it an ideal destination to combine surgery, post operative recuperation and holiday relaxation.

Gran Canaria boasts some of the best-rated spa and thalasso facilities in Europe including the Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort Spa & Casino which has a spa set in an area reminiscent of a volcanic cave, The Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Corallium Thalasso with private seawater pools, jacuzzis, sun terraces and treatment rooms, and The Gloria Palace San Agustín Thalasso and Hotel with its four high tech sea water pools.

The Gran Canaria Spa, Wellness & Health Association (GCSW&H Association) has persuaded several of the top spas, medical and recuperation facilities on the island to offer bespoke wellness and medical holiday packages to suit individual needs of medical tourists, particularly from France, Germany, Spain and the UK.It has also persuaded fourteen of the top spa hotels to offer packages. These all provide guests with a choice of three to five star accommodation offering outstanding spa facilities and comfort, and close to: Hospital San Roque Maspalomas, Clinica San Roque Las Palmas, Eurocanarias Oftalmologica Eye Clinic and Branemark Center.Clinica San Roque Las Palmas specialises in cosmetic surgery. Eurocanarias Oftalmológica is a top specialist eye clinic. Hospital San Roque Maspalomas is a cosmetic surgery specialist. Branemark Center is a specialist dental clinic.  To read the full article click here

For cheap Gran Canaria flights and a Gran Canaria weather forecast visit yourgrancanaria.net

The Guardian in the UK has reported in its travel pages about an alternative to connventional holidays in Gran Canaria, that aren’t very well known about. They say:

We were sitting on a cliff top eating a camping stove dinner and gazing blissfully into the void. Behind us pine trees swished, 1,400m below the ocean thudded into the coastline, and in front, beyond a volcano piercing the cloud canopy, the sun took a bow of epic proportions. It was the kind of sunset you don’t want to take your eyes off: colours shifted imperceptibly as the sky drifted through the spectrum to black, then filled with stars. It was one of those joyous outdoor moments every committed camper hopes for: the ones that erase all those memories of sodden socks, sore limbs, over-sexed neighbours, sleepless nights and biblical floods. That recidivist campers are masochists with selective memory loss is no great revelation; what is, is that this particular moment happened in Gran Canaria.

The karaoke bars and Irish pubs of Playa del Ingles aside, camping on Gran Canaria, with its year-round sunshine and cheap charter flights, doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But a quick internet search deters most. Only two campsites come up clearly on Google: one is in a town . . . beside the airport on the windswept east coast; the other on the sunny though heavily developed south coast, is called Camping Guantánamo.

Not wanting to be intimidated by the unfortunate name we headed to the latter straight from the airport. But unlike its namesake, this Guantánamo had already been shut down. After lengthy discussions with the staff of a nearby restaurant and a wild goose chase through sprawling, soulless tourist developments, we spent our first night curled up in the back of our hire car.

Next morning, we left the condo-jungle in search of the island’s wilder side. On the Gran Canaria map it seems a straightforward affair: a big mountain rising from the ocean, a circle of rock 50km in diameter with a high point in the middle. In reality, it’s a bit more complicated: falling away from the Cumbre, literally the summit, were dozens of barrancos, deep gorges gauged into the volcanic rock that meander towards the coast.

To read the full article click here and for more information about the island visit http://www.yourgrancanaria.net

British tour operator First Choice have chosen two Gran Canaria hotels to be on their Premier childcare list.

To see which ones click here

For today’s Gran Canaria weather visit yourgrancanaria.net

If you’re considering visiting the island for a holiday and would like to see the real Gran Canaria, a UK walking tour operator is now offering Gran Canaria holidays.

Visit them at ramblersholidays.co.uk - for more conventional holidays visit Thomas Cook Holidays

Grand Hotel Residencia Maspalomas

Gran Canaria’s hotels are a traditional mixture of small family run establishments and modern hotels, with most in the 3 and 4 star category.

But now there is one hotel in Gran Canaria that has been rated the third best in the world by people who have stayed there - and according to them it’s the best in Europe report http://www.yourgrancanaria.net

Independent hotel reviews are a great way for people to see what others think, and when there are a good number a feel of what a hotel is really like can be gauged before making any booking.

And it can help hotels who fall below the standards expected of today’s holidaymaker if they read the reviews to see what their guests think, to rectify matters and improve future comments and rankings to ensure they are as well thought of as their competitors.

The hotel gained this review from the company who did the survey:

The Grand Hotel Residencia is located in Maspalomas, the palm-rich resort on the south side of the island Gran Canaria. The luxury hotel with a Spanish colonial style design is situated in a breathtaking landscape: under the hot desert winds of Africa a single dune is formed, which resembles the Sahara.

The hotel’s recognition by tourists and subsequent publicity is good news for holidays in Gran Canaria during the recession, and importantly publicises to potential visitors that the island can provide first class accommodation as well as the good weather.

Apart from relaxing on the beach and enjoy the hotel facilities, what else is there for people to do on their holidays in Gran Canaria should they want to do something a little adventurous or sporting?

The beaches are noted for their white sand and crystal clear waters, great for swimming. Especially notable is the massive Maspalomas beach with its sand dunes and the marvellous hidden beach of Guigui. Las Canteras beach is located in the capital of Las Palmas and tends to be much livelier, though still family friendly.

For the sports minded holidaymaker, many of the hotels offer a variety of sports activities, including golf, tennis, paddling, sailing, windsurfing, snorkeling and scuba diving.

If you fancy a round or two of golf, the courses are open year round. Gran Canaria’s golfing legacy goes back over a century to 1891 when her first golf course was opened. It was built in what is now the central zone of the capital city of Las Palmas. In 1957 the course was relocated to Bandama, but still retains the name of Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas. Gran Canaria really is a pioneer when it comes to golf and can claim to have introduced the sport to Spain. Today there are numerous golf courses and endless sunny days to enjoy them.

But if you just want to stay at your Gran Canaria hotel and enjoy the facilities, you can be sure that at least one of them is going to be about as good as you can get.

More travel articles and information about Gran Canaria is available on the internet and increasingly on social media like stumbleupon too.