Inspired by the movie The Shining, the tourism entrepreneurs of the Canary Islands have launched a campaign that includes a "scary" and "horror" video to "raise awareness among society and the public sector about the serious situation facing tourism in the Archipelago, as well as the urgency of clear commitments from public administrations to alleviate the tax pressure on many companies that have been without any income for almost a year."
The #salvemoselTURISMOcanario initiative was presented this Tuesday by the four tourism business associations of the Canary Islands, including the Lanzarote Tourism Federation, which includes Asolan. "Despite this serious situation, this engine of the Islands' economy continues to be charged some taxes for services they do not even receive, a circumstance that seriously jeopardizes the 340,000 direct and indirect jobs dependent on tourism in the Canary Islands," the businessmen argue, who have given the video the title of "I'm here to collect".
The press conference, which included the participation of the presidents of the four business associations, Jorge Marichal (Ashotel), José María Mañaricúa (FEHT), Antonio Hormiga (Asofuer) and Susana Pérez (Lanzarote Tourism Federation), exposed the "critical scenario reached by tourism companies in the Archipelago", noting that "they generate 35% of the Islands' wealth (16.5 billion euros annually) and 40% of employment." In addition, according to the latest Impactur 2018 report, tourism, they emphasize, "contributed to the public coffers with 2,475 million euros in direct and indirect taxes, 32% of what was collected in the Canary Islands and 78% of what comes in via taxes."
A campaign "fruit of desperation"
This campaign “is the result of desperation and the deaf ears of certain administrations”, said Jorge Marichal, who added that society and companies have made an enormous sacrifice, with which they consider that “the public administration has not lived up to the task”. “We wonder why in such a dramatic moment for tourism, with so many jobs and companies at stake, we are still being charged for services that the town councils do not currently provide, given the situation that keeps many establishments and tourist businesses closed,” said the president of Ashotel.
“We see from the public administrations, especially from the town councils, to whom we have been asking for collaboration for a year, that the response has been null or lukewarm, when we consider that the public sector has the capacity to help,” said Marichal, who recalled that Ashotel sent letters to all the town councils in which it has associates in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro and "the vast majority did not even respond."
For his part, José María Mañaricúa emphasized the seriousness of the moment. “We have been a year without income in the sector and the support we find from the majority of the town councils is to continue charging us taxes for services that we are not receiving”, he insisted. In Gran Canaria, Mañaricúa reported that only the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council approved a 100% exemption on the garbage tax for 2020 and 2021, a significant cost for many hotel companies, along with the IBI. “It would have been a nice gesture if some other town council had applied some type of tax reduction. We've been closed for a year!”, he insisted.
"Panic scenario"
“Panic, terror…. that is the scenario in which we are immersed and that we relive when we walk through the streets and beaches of Morro Jable, Costa Calma, Caleta de Fuste, Corralejo”, explained Antonio Hormiga, who added that these scenarios “look like filming sets, without lights, without souls, without joy… Empty bars, restaurants, hotels, without life and without activity”. Hormiga reported that in Fuerteventura there are 13,400 people in ERTE and, of these, 40% belong to the hotel and tourism industry, a sector that in this island represents 65% of its GDP directly and 85% indirectly.
For her part, Susana Pérez pointed out from Lanzarote that “many town councils, and especially the tourist ones, maintain their budgets thanks to the income from taxes from the sector, and at this time, when companies need help to overcome this economic and tourist crisis caused by this unprecedented pandemic, the councils are not up to the standard that the tourism sector expects of them.”
“These are dramatic months for companies in the sector, a year of zero income and the aid received so far is not enough. The town councils are and have been beneficiaries of the sector's taxes and now they are not up to the task. A direct involvement is required in the reduction of taxes and fees that directly provide real solutions for tourism, the rest is propaganda”, he added, arguing that “the survival of companies is directly linked to the survival of employment in the sector”.
Among the novelties of the #salvemoselTURISMOcanario initiative is the implementation of the Cumpliómetro 2021, which will be published soon. This is a kind of barometer that will reflect the measures that the Canary Islands town councils in which the business associations have associates have adopted for this year 2021. The purpose of the tool, they say, is to carry out a "transparency exercise, which will serve as an example for those local corporations that have not yet adopted measures in this regard, and that can be completed with the addition of all the Canary Islands town councils, which will be able to communicate directly through the website of this initiative their news on bonuses or exemptions from fees and other taxes to tourism companies."