The president of the Island Association of Hotel and Apartment Business Owners of Lanzarote (ASOLAN), Susana Pérez, has responded to the accusations of the Company Committee of the Tourist Centers that the hotel association "does not contribute anything positive" to the Tourist Centers (CACT), stating that they ensure the "satisfaction of the tourist".
Pérez has defended that with the entity she represents, "we do not torpedo or block issues", but quite the opposite, since ASOLAN "does not obtain any direct benefit" from its participation, but rather "concerns and occupies" itself with the interests of the tourism sector.
"We are not at all worried, we are in the bodies where we have to be. It will be in their hands (because they have a majority), to kick us out or not," she indicated, and has advanced that, although they are not the ones who "do not want to be", whatever happens, they will continue to express their opinions "inside or outside the boards of directors."
Defense of travel agencies
Beyond this issue, Pérez has expressed her "anger", reflected during the last councils, as a result of the blaming of travel agencies for the slowdown or the queues faced by tourists.
Although she recognizes that in the past Christmas period there have been no retentions thanks to issues such as online sales or the reorganization of the road that leads to the Cueva de los Verdes, she focuses on Timanfaya, where long waits are recorded.
"The management corresponds to the CACT, intermediaries cannot be blamed, because the queues are generated by individual cars and not by excursions organized by agencies, which also make a much more sustainable experience using a single bus", defended the president of ASOLAN.
The physical sale of tickets is positive
In this same line, she has reiterated her criticism of the online sales system of the centers, which although she considers "positive and welcome", in her opinion, should not mean the elimination of the offer of individual tickets in the agencies: "It is throwing stones on the CACT's own product."
Pérez explains that if agencies are deprived of the possibility of offering the experiences of the tourist centers individually, they will not include the resource in the packages, "which are the ones that can achieve the Lanzarote Premium qualification".
For her part, regarding the question of whether she is against the increase in prices of access, the head of the hotel association has indicated that this issue "has never been taken to the councils", and has reiterated that her only objection is against the "blaming" of travel agencies.
