Haría, Teguise and Tinajo fail in the "compliance meter" launched by the tourism employers' associations of the archipelago. And, as reflected, none of these town councils has adopted measures to reduce the tax pressure borne by tourism companies during the pandemic. As for the rest of the island's councils -Arrecife, San Bartolomé, Tías and Yaiza- they only comply halfway according to the business associations, since either "they adopted measures during 2020 but did not continue their application this year" or they only "have reduced taxes of less impact for the sector's income statement in this 2021".
The 2021 Compliance Meter is a kind of barometer that the Lanzarote Tourism Federation (FTL) and the rest of the tourism employers' associations of the Canary Islands, Ashotel, FEHT and Asofuer, launched a few weeks ago in the form of a traffic light. With this, on the one hand it aims to make visible which town councils have stood out with tax exemptions and bonuses to the tourism sector and, on the other hand, to be a tool that motivates those other town councils that have not yet adopted measures of this type to do the same.
However, "with the aim of being transparent", the tool only collects data from the municipalities in which the employers' associations have members, so not all the Canary Island town councils are represented.
Based on this, according to the employers' associations, as of today only the local corporations of Adeje, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Antigua have a green traffic light. In other words, they are the only ones that have approved for 2021 fiscal relief measures with an impact on the income statement of tourism companies, such as the reduction of the garbage tax, the IBI or the IAE, among other taxes and fees with an impact on the income statement of tourism companies.
In amber color are 12 of the 47 municipalities referred to in the 2021 Compliance Meter. These are those that adopted measures during 2020 but did not continue their application this year, which makes it "equally or more difficult for the financial balances of companies", or that have reduced taxes of less impact for the sector's income statement in this 2021, according to the employers' associations. Here are the Lanzarote town councils of Yaiza, Tías, San Bartolomé and Arrecife and those of the Canary Island municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Mogán, San Sebastián de La Gomera, Alajeró, Barlovento, Garachico and Arona.
Finally, in red color are the remaining 29 municipalities. Here, in addition to Haría, Teguise and Tinajo, are included La Oliva, Pájara, Puerto del Rosario, Telde, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Agaete, Valle Gran Rey, Hermigua, Tazacorte, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Los Llanos de Aridane, Fuencaliente, Breña Baja, Vilaflor, Santiago del Teide, San Miguel de Abona, Los Realejos, La Orotava, Güímar, Guía de Isora, Granadilla de Abona, Buenavista del Norte and Arico.
More than 250 companies support #saveCANARYISLANDStourism
On the other hand, the tourism employers' associations of the archipelago affirm that more than 250 companies linked to the tourism sector in the Islands have already supported the #saveCANARYISLANDStourism initiative, which they launched several weeks ago with the aim of achieving from the public administrations the commitment to alleviate the tax pressure of many tourism companies that have been without any income for almost a year.
Specifically, they assure that as of today there are 266 organizations that have joined the initiative through the website www.salvemoselturismocanario.com and that are directly or indirectly related to the tourism sector, "which generates 35% of the wealth (GDP) in the Archipelago and employs 40% of the active population".
Of the total number of companies, entities, associations or organizations of various kinds, they detail that the majority (101) are lodging establishments and tourism companies, "many of them especially affected by the economic suffocation to which they are subjected, specifically by the payment of taxes for services that are often not provided, such as the waste tax, which responds to the principle of equivalence, and that in many municipalities is still charged the same as when the establishment was open or at full capacity and high occupancy rates".
This initiative was presented on March 9 with the campaign ¡I'm coming to collect!, within which the 2021 Compliance Meter has been developed. "The 2021 Compliance Meter, like the campaign '¡I'm coming to collect!', is not a blackmail to local administrations; its objective is none other than to carry out an exercise of transparency that serves as an example for those corporations that have not yet adopted measures in this regard", they clarify from the tourism employers' associations.
In this regard, they indicate that the tool is "alive" and that it can be completed with the addition of the measures adopted by all the Canary Island town councils, which can directly communicate through the website of this initiative their news on bonuses or exemptions of fees and other taxes to tourism companies.
