The president of the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce, José Valle, has traveled these days with the Lanzarote delegation made up of the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, the CEO of SPEL Turismo Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, and the councilor of the Tourist Centers, Ángel Vázquez. The group has held several working meetings at the highest level, in New York, with the mayor of the city, Eric Adams, the team of chef José Andrés, representatives of the World Economic Forum, the Spanish ambassador to the UN, the Turespaña Tourism Office or the Spanish Foreign Trade Office, among others.
During his meeting with the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who was treated as a head of state, a twinning agreement was proposed that will be presented in writing, and involves an invitation from the president, Oswaldo Betancort, to the highest representative of the City. New York is valued as a success story as a tourist destination with problems similar to those of other tourist destinations in the world that work with large volumes, in this case, with an even greater proportion than that of any destination in the Canary Islands, with 8 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area that can reach up to 60 million tourists. The Spanish ambassador to the United Nations, the Canarian Héctor Gómez, also received the Lanzarote delegation and offered himself to Lanzarote to provoke the "generation of significant flows of New York public towards Lanzarote, develop events and actions in the Big Apple and draft a Strategic Plan beneficial for both".
Join chef José Andrés' gastronomic project
During the meeting held with the Little Spain market, a successful commercial gastronomic project by chef José Andrés in the city, three lines of collaboration were proposed that involve developing in this culinary space a direct public action with products and gastronomy from Lanzarote, as well as inviting young promises of gastronomy and restoration from Lanzarote to carry out their practices and learning in this space. The third proposal refers to the audiovisual production agency that is part of the Little Spain project, to produce reports on Lanzarote to raise awareness in the US market.
The World Economic Forum and its cluster in Lanzarote
During the meeting held with the World Economic Forum, there was talk of the "importance of the clusters that this organization develops in the world". The Canary Island Net Zero, focused on sustainable tourism, which is developed by the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce and is a pioneer in the world, stands out especially. In this sense, the Canary Island Net Zero is an experimentation laboratory in matters such as energy transition, digital transition or infrastructure transition, through green sources and under sustainability criteria.
One of the proposals collected at this meeting is the "possibility of Lanzarote hosting a meeting of these clusters of the World Economic Forum, which are 13 throughout the world, to promote their action and credibility in the challenges that climate change is generating to the planet and tourist destinations".
Other relevant appointments on the agenda
Likewise, the Lanzarote team held a meeting with the Turespaña counselor in New York, Magí Castellfort, to take advantage of the infrastructures that Spanish institutions have in all markets, such as New York, Los Angeles or Miami. For its part, the management of Turespaña pledged to "offer all the necessary advice to deploy and organize the landing in the planning of Lanzarote in this market". Direct flights will be Lanzarote's next challenge since, at present, there are no direct connections.
Héctor Fernández, as counselor of the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society, highlighted the invitation received to participate in the Spain ustainability Day event, which will take place in September and where Lanzarote will be presented to travel agents, journalists and relevant personalities from the social and business sphere of the city of New York. The event is an "unmissable event for managers and experts in sustainability that brings together national and international opinion leaders to analyze the trends of the present and future of Sustainability", aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Foreign trade
Another meeting to highlight was the one held with the Spanish Foreign Trade Office of Spain, and its executive director, Verónica Samper, who offered to help the "penetration of Lanzarote companies in the field of wine and gastronomy to establish or implement commercial strategies in this city". An action "very interesting" from the point of view of the president of the Chamber, José Valle, who considers "very positive the public-private collaboration between the Cabildo and the Chamber of Commerce to promote corporate tourism of high-level companies". “The possibility that American companies can hold annual business meetings in spaces as unique as Jameos del Agua would mean greater positioning of the destination in said market”, explains Valle.
