El Hierro joins the official Canary Islands travel portal
The smallest and greenest of the Canary Islands is about to become easier to find online: Turismo de Canarias has integrated El Hierro's tourism website into the archipelago's official destination portal to strengthen the island's visibility and reach.
Photo: Erik del Toro Streb, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Symbolbild).
For travellers, that means more languages, more reliable information and a simpler way to discover the volcanic island in the south-west of the archipelago – from its dive sites to its dark skies.
What has actually happened
According to the Government of the Canary Islands (Gobierno de Canarias), El Hierro's website (elhierro.travel) has been folded into the official destination portal holaislascanarias.com. The island keeps its own domain, its local knowledge and editorial control, while gaining access to the portal's shared technological infrastructure.
The stated aim is to pool efforts, make better use of public resources and improve both the destination's international projection and its technological capacity.
Why it matters for El Hierro
El Hierro is the smallest inhabited Canary Island and naturally generates less online attention than Tenerife or Gran Canaria. Better discoverability inside the official portal can help offset that structural disadvantage.
According to the Vice-Counsellor for Tourism, José Manuel Sanabria, the move forms part of the digital transformation strategy of the Islas Canarias destination, which is "advancing towards a collaborative model between administrations". El Hierro, he said, "keeps its identity, its domain and its decision-making capacity, because nobody knows the island better than those who live and work on it".
The context: a tested model
El Hierro is not the first island to take this route. According to Turismo de Canarias, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and La Palma were integrated before it. Fuerteventura's organic search visibility reportedly grew by more than 1,500% after joining, while La Palma is said to have gained organic traffic and user sessions.
Sara Sánchez-Romo, Director of Digital and Social Media at Turismo de Islas Canarias, sums up the logic: "Search engines don't understand administrative competences or territorial structures – they understand coherence and quality." Competing public websites for the same destination are meant to disappear as a result.
What makes El Hierro special
El Hierro carries several credentials: it is recognised by UNESCO as both a Biosphere Reserve and a Global Geopark. Through the Gorona del Viento wind-and-water power station (operational since 2014), it pursues the goal of running as fully as possible on renewable energy – a widely cited flagship of the energy transition.
Underwater, the Mar de las Calmas marine reserve off La Restinga draws divers from around the world; according to reports, it is also set to become Spain's first fully marine national park. It is precisely these motivations – volcanic diving, local gastronomy and a sustainable island model – that the portal highlights for El Hierro.
What travellers actually get
According to Turismo de Canarias, the island's offering is already richly catalogued in the portal: 82 active events, 467 tourism resources (natural spaces, viewpoints, trails and stargazing sites), 16 tourism services, 288 accommodations, 23 restaurants and 32 editorial articles.
The content is available in eleven languages, with the option to expand to as many as eighteen, and the portal is designed to meet European digital accessibility standards. Davinia Armas, El Hierro's Counsellor for Tourism, describes it as "the opportunity to have far more technology, far more languages and, above all, to reach far more travellers".
Filter by trails, viewpoints and dive sites to map out the stages of your trip in advance – and always confirm opening hours directly with each provider.
Offerings, prices and availability can change; the information provided by local operators is always the binding source.
At a glance
- Action: El Hierro's website (elhierro.travel) integrated into the holaislascanarias.com portal (source: Gobierno de Canarias).
- Languages: eleven, expandable to as many as eighteen; focus on digital accessibility.
- Content: 82 events, 467 resources, 16 services, 288 accommodations, 23 restaurants, 32 articles.
- Previously integrated: Fuerteventura, La Gomera and La Palma; Fuerteventura +1,500% organic visibility.
- Island credentials: UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Global Geopark; the Gorona del Viento energy project (since 2014).
FAQ
- What exactly did Turismo de Canarias do?
- It integrated El Hierro's official tourism website into the holaislascanarias.com destination portal to boost the island's visibility and reach.
- Does El Hierro lose control of its content?
- No. According to the Gobierno de Canarias, the island keeps its domain, its identity and its decision-making capacity; it simply shares the technology.
- How many languages is the content available in?
- Eleven languages, with the option to expand to as many as eighteen.
- Which islands were integrated before?
- Fuerteventura, La Gomera and La Palma. For Fuerteventura, the authorities report a rise of more than 1,500% in organic visibility.
- What is El Hierro known for as a destination?
- Volcanic diving in the Mar de las Calmas, dark skies, hiking and a sustainable island model – it is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Global Geopark.
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