PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
The Lanzarote delegation present at Fitur 2020, headed by the president of the Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo, and the Minister of Tourism Promotion, Ángel Vázquez, kicked off this Wednesday in Madrid with a work agenda in which they state that "sustainability, technological innovation, the strengthening of connectivity and the commitment to national tourism will be the central axes" of the strategy designed by the Society for the Promotion of Foreign Affairs of Lanzarote (SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote) during its stay in what is considered one of the three most important tourism fairs in the world.
"Just as we are an international benchmark in terms of sustainability, our objective now is to also become a global model in the application of technological innovation to the planning and intelligent management of the destination, so that we can know at all times the flows of tourists and the carrying capacity of the island, in order to adopt decisions that improve our competitiveness in terms of environmental, economic and social sustainability", said the president.
Precisely, one of the most outstanding events of the Lanzarote representation at Fitur 2020 will be its participation this Thursday in the annual meeting of the Biosphere Destination Community - a community that brings together all the destinations in the world that have received Biosphere certification, which will include a presentation of the destination "emphasizing the commitment to environmental matters that has characterized and positioned Lanzarote as a sustainable tourism model of world reference, and in which special emphasis will be placed on the indelible mark that the most universal of its sons, the artist of nature César Manrique, conferred on the island".
The promotional material, in digital format
Also, for the first time at the Madrid fair, the Lanzarote stand offers a promotional proposal based on digitized support through tablets, which replace the traditional printed material of the companies.
On the other hand, the agenda of the Lanzarote delegation in this 40th edition of Fitur "is focused on burning issues for the sector on the island such as the strengthening of air connectivity, which is mainly concerned after the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook and the closure of the Ryanair base, as well as the commitment to the national market because it is a tourist who is close to the destination and with a higher level of spending, which makes it a particularly interesting market for Lanzarote", says Ángel Vázquez.
With these objectives, both the president of the Cabildo and the island councilor for Tourism Promotion and the team of professionals from SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote held meetings from early Wednesday morning with senior officials from some of the most powerful Spanish tour operators, such as Viajes El Corte Inglés, Ávoris and Eroski, as well as with prominent interlocutors in digital marketing, including the OTAs (online travel agencies) Atrápalo and Lastminute, in addition to the digital platform Minube, considered the most important travel social network in Spain; meetings that continued in the afternoon with other prominent agents in the sector such as the national wholesaler Soltour, or the Spanish OTAs eDreams and Logitravel, as well as the French group Thalasso nº1-Ô Voyages.
Improvement of connectivity
In relation to the improvement of connectivity, the Lanzarote delegation brought forward the start of its agenda at Fitur to Tuesday, meeting with three of the most important tourism players in the national market, such as the wholesaler Nautalia, and the airlines Iberia Express and easyJet, which announced for 2020 a 13.8% and 22% increase in air capacity in their connections with Lanzarote, respectively.
Iberia Express will establish a total of 16 weekly flights in the peak periods of the summer months, so that two days a week will operate three daily flights with Madrid. Likewise, Turismo Lanzarote signed a biennial (2020/2021) co-marketing agreement with easyJet, significantly increasing the agreement due to the strong commitment that this airline is making with different markets of importance for the island (currently maintains 15 routes with Lanzarote) and subject to the increase in frequencies of existing routes, as well as the possibility of new links with the United Kingdom and France.
Also, the Lanzarote delegation has scheduled meetings throughout today with the Spanish airlines Vueling, Volotea, Binter and Air Europa, as well as with the Hungarian Wizz Air, which will be added to the one held this morning with Brussels Airlines.
The meetings will culminate on Thursday with meetings to be held with European operators such as TUI or the British Jet2.com, as well as with the wholesaler Travelplan (belonging to the Globalia Group) and Destinia, one of the main OTAs (online travel agency), both national operators.
Diversification of products
"The undoubted commitment to tourism products carried out by Turismo Lanzarote, also takes on special importance this year with the presence, with its own stand, of the recently created brand Lanzarote Music Festivals, in the `Fitur Festivals´ Pavilion", highlight from the Cabildo. María Dolores Corujo and Ángel Vázquez, who visited the stand where you can view the video and the website created for this purpose and greeted the promoters of the festivals that initially form part of the project, stressed that "the objective is to position the destination as a benchmark in terms of music festivals in different aspects, formats and styles, from the enhancement of resources linked to the territory, natural heritage and culture".
In this sense, they emphasized "the excellent results that this product diversification strategy has been contributing to the island through the creation of different product clubs such as the enogastronomic, sports, film industry or congress and event tourism, among many others, in order to attract specialized segments of the tourism market with high purchasing power to the island".
Meeting with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands
The day of this Wednesday at Fitur 2020 began with the visit to the Lanzarote stand of the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, accompanied by the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Canary Islands Executive, Yaiza Castilla, who were received by María Dolores Corujo and Ángel Vázquez.
The reception was also attended by the CEO of the CACTs, Benjamín Perdomo; the mayor of Tías, José Juan Cruz, and the councilors of Tourism of Tías, Mame Fernández, of Yaiza, Ángel Domínguez, and of Teguise (Interior Tourism), Tony Callero, and the president of the Lanzarote Tourist Federation, Susana Pérez, in addition to the members of the team of the Society for the Promotion of Foreign Affairs of Lanzarote (SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote), headed by the CEO of the Entity, Héctor Fernández.
The event in Madrid, which was also attended by the councilor of Arrecife Armando Santana, also brings together an important representation of the business, management and professional field of the island's tourism sector, many of them partners and sponsors of the Insular Promotion Entity
