Podemos takes the debate on the "tourist saturation" of the Archipelago to the Parliament of the Canary Islands. The purple group presented a non-law proposal on March 16 to incorporate the definition of saturated tourist zone, the regulation of the procedure for its declaration and its legal effects to the Tourism Planning Law of the Canary Islands.
This PNL has been registered by the spokesperson of the Sí Podemos Canarias Parliamentary Group, a month after the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Dolores Corujo (PSOE), declared Lanzarote as a "saturated island" touristically.
"There is a growing awareness throughout the world that human activities are exceeding the biophysical limits of the planet, and that we must act on them," begins the text presented by the purple group before Parliament.
In this line, it points out "the co-responsibility" of acting "on a local scale", especially in economic models such as tourism. The non-law proposal points out that tourist activity has "significant" environmental effects and a "considerable" social impact.
According to the text presented by Podemos, the Canarian legislation in the tourist field has contemplated since 1995 the need for a specific treatment for situations of "imbalance." That is, in cases in which the accommodation offer and the tourist influx do not agree or in which the reception and response capacity of the infrastructures and equipment cannot respond to the needs generated by the demand.
The Law on Territorial Planning and Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands, of the year 2000, already provided that the island plans could establish areas of the territory in which new tourist growths should not be allowed, "because they are incompatible with the principle of sustainable development or have the character of saturated zones."
In this way, Podemos relies on the gaps in the Canarian legislation on territorial matters to support its non-law proposal. "The autonomous legislation contemplates the provision for the declaration of a saturated tourist zone." However, it does not have a procedure to be declared nor does it explain the effects derived from said declaration. For this reason, the group has urged the Government of the Canary Islands to add these points to the current tourism planning law.
