TheCanary Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators (ACAVyT) has rejected AENA's proposal to impose charges on its buses for access and stays at Canary airports because it "aggravates operational surcharges" and "threatens the economic viability of the island's tourism sector".
According to the association's statement, this measure would imply charges for parking time equivalent to those for private vehicles, with an estimated impact of up to 6,000 euros per bus per month, in a context where tourist contracts are already signed for the 2025-26 season with no room to pass on these costs.
"These fixed expenses erode the already tight margins of transportation companies, forcing cuts in fleets or essential services," ACAVyT indicates in the note.
The association considers that Canary tour operators and the retail agency network, which integrate these transfers into complete tourist packages, "would suffer a generalized increase in costs for their offers, reducing competitiveness against rival destinations and discouraging the arrival of visitors".
In this regard, he warns that "the impossibility of adjusting prices in the short term generates accumulated losses for small local operators, compromising route programming and the stability of alliances with hotels and suppliers."Furthermore, in his opinion, "penalizing high-capacity public transport contradicts the objectives of tourism decarbonization," at a time when the Canary Islands are making "a significant effort" to develop a tourist destination aligned with the UN's 2030 Agenda, promoting environmental sustainability and efficient mobility.
For the Canary Islands Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators, this fee will slow down these advances by discouraging the use of collective buses and, "without viable alternatives for waiting outside the premises," it foresees "collapses in terminals with hundreds of stranded passengers".
Therefore, it has urged both the Canary Islands Government and state authorities to block this initiative, advocating for a tariff model that prioritizes the general interest of the archipelago and preserves the tourism value chain, especially for the retail sector.
