Media outlets such as the British Daily Mirror and some Nordic media from Sweden, Norway and Denmark such as Expressen, echoed a few weeks ago the "imminent tourist collapse" of the Canary Islands. An overexploitation caused by the "excessive" tourist growth, according to a report by Ben Maget Ecologistas en Acción.
The president of the Lanzarote Tourism Federation, Susana Pérez, in an interview this Thursday on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, has shown her point of view on the subject and has pointed to the unregulated vacation homes in the Canary Islands and specifically, in Lanzarote as the cause of the lack of housing.
Pérez has stated that there is no need to be concerned about these headlines. She recalls the meetings they held last January at the Tourism Fair (Fitur). “We maintain an active listening with the operators and work in all markets to attract tourists,” she says. She points out that from the point of view of the operators, there is no discomfort on the part of the tourists. “They have not conveyed to us the concern that there is that degree of dissatisfaction in the visits to the island”. She argues that there is no major problem. “In that sense, we don't have to be so worried,” she concludes.
However, the president of the FTL has shown her opinion regarding the lack of housing and puts the focus of the problem on vacation homes. As has already been announced throughout the Canary Islands last January, the vacation spots represent 36% of the total accommodation offer, a figure that for Pérez goes beyond the tourism sector. “The phenomenon of vacation homes in Lanzarote, like in other areas of Spain, has an impact that goes beyond tourism and reaches the social sphere”, she reveals.
“The phenomenon of vacation homes in Lanzarote has an impact that goes beyond tourism and reaches the social sphere”
The main thing and the first point to be able to take action on the matter, Pérez emphasizes, is
