TENERIFE, Spain (Reuters) - Canary Islands tourism officials are worried a flood of illegal migrants will scare away the sun-seeking visitors who directly and indirectly provide half the Spanish region’s jobs.

The Canaries welcomed almost 10 million tourists in 2005 and so far, the package tours keep rolling in to the haven of luxury hotels and golden beaches.

But the islands, off northwest Africa, are no longer merely a magnet for stressed Europeans.

Nearly 9,500 migrants seeking a better life in Europe braved the perilous sea journey from Africa to land on the Canaries from January to May, around twice the number that arrived in the same period last year.

HUNDREDS of Glasgow sunseekers are expected to snap up new weekly winter flights to the Spanish holiday island of Fuerteventura.

Budget airline Flyglobespan announced their latest winter sun flights - starting at £59.99 one way including taxes - are on sale.

The Scots airline already offers direct flights from Glasgow Airport to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.

Now Fuerteventura is the airline’s latest destination in the Canary Islands.

Flights will be launched in early November along with, as revealed last week by the Evening Times, new winter flights to Majorca and the Algarve in Portugal.

Spanish tourism officials in the Canary Islands fear a flood of illegal immigrants will scare away the sun-seeking visitors on whom the islands’ economy depends.

The Canaries welcomed almost 10 million tourists in 2005 and, so far, the visitors keep rolling in to the haven of luxury hotels and golden beaches.

But the Spanish islands, off northwest Africa, are no longer merely a magnet for stressed Europeans. Nearly 9,500 African migrants seeking a better life in Europe braved the perilous 600-mile sea journey in small boats from Northern Africa to land on the Canaries from January to May. That’s about twice the number that arrived in the same period last year.