The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, convened this Friday the representatives of the tourist area of the seven island councils with the aim of studying measures to face the 2020-2021 winter tourist season and agreed on "unity of action" and financing to launch coronavirus tests for tourists.
The Minister was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Teresa Berástegui, and the director of the 'Canarias Fortaleza' project, Cristina del Río, while the councils were represented at the meeting by the president of Fuerteventura, Blas Acosta; the Councilor for Tourism of La Palma, Raúl Camacho; the Councilor for Tourism of La Gomera, María Isabel Méndez; the Councilor for Tourism of El Hierro, Lucía Fuentes Mesa; the Councilor for Tourism of Lanzarote, Ángel Vázquez; the manager of the Gran Canaria Tourist Board, Pablo Llinares, and the CEO of Tourism of Tenerife, David Pérez.
Yaiza Castilla stated at the meeting the "urgent need" to reverse the situation of the incidence of the pandemic between now and October to guarantee that the issuing countries lift their warnings about travel to the islands and the requirements for quarantines upon return, and to be able to take advantage of the "historic opportunity" that the Canary Islands has to be the only winter sun destination with capacity and reliable health standards for Europeans.
To this end, the regional minister asked the councils to redouble their efforts to, from their respective competences and scope of reach, influence the reduction of coronavirus ratios, a commitment shared by all the island representatives.
At the same time, the representatives of the public institutions showed their willingness to collaborate and assume in a shared way with the private sector (tour operators and accommodation companies) the establishment of tests for the detection and diagnosis of Covid-19 through PCR or other types of testing mechanisms that are beginning to appear on the international market that give the same reliability, but improving the time to obtain results and the cost per test, and for which they are in the process of obtaining information from the various manufacturers in order to assess their acquisition.
The idea is to be able to start carrying them out from October, at least, with private agreements with tour operators, given that they do not have the powers to establish it as an obligation for everyone who enters the islands.
According to Castilla, the Government of the Canary Islands continues negotiations with the State for the establishment of these tests for travelers and for which it considers fundamental, on the one hand, the involvement of AENA to make available the space at airports to carry out these tests, and, on the other hand, the agreements between States to carry out the same at origin, while the islands would assume the tests at the destination upon departure of travelers so that the risk is mutualized.
The minister expressed her confidence in achieving these objectives, "but the imminence of the Canary Islands high season requires us to move forward with a plan B coordinated with the councils that helps us generate confidence in demand and in the face of the different governments of issuing countries."
