The Art, Culture and Tourism Centers today presented the progress of the Entity's accounts for the first semester of the current year, which show an operating profit of 8.7 million euros and a profit of 4.4 million euros before taxes.
In this way, the Entity maintains the path of profit that it began at the beginning of this legislature after the "disastrous" business management of the past. "As much as they insist on trying to convince us otherwise, it was much more than deficient," explained the councilor, Ángel Vázquez, during the public appearance he made this morning to present the economic results of the Entity for the first semester of 2024 and the audited accounts corresponding to the year 2023, among other matters.
"We started working from day one to organize a company that was totally disorganized, dismantled and without direction, which was doomed to close last year with a negative balance, as reflected in the 140 thousand euros of losses recorded as of June 30, 2023. With rigor in management, rationality and control in spending and optimizing human and technical resources, we were able to turn things around during the second semester and close the year 2023 with 2.9 M euros of profits, after paying 162,000 euros of interest corresponding to the Cabildo fee for the years 2018-19 that the previous management took to court."
The Tourist Centers had an operating result of almost 3.9 million euros during the year 2023.
Profits during the first semester of 2024
"We have maintained this management model and incorporated strategic measures that have led us to an extraordinary first semester of 2024, with an operating profit of 8.7 million euros. From this amount, 2.2 million euros have been deducted for Corporate Social Responsibility, 500,000 euros for the fee to the Cabildo of Lanzarote and approximately 1.6 million euros corresponding to the fee received by the municipalities of Haría, Tinajo and Yaiza after the update of the rates carried out on January 1. All in all, the result before taxes for this first semester amounts to 4.4 million."
The councilor also presented what he called an exercise in accounting fiction, a table of results applying the rates in force last year. In this case, the Entity's profit would have been 2.9 million.
The councilor has stopped to assess the contribution made by the Tourist Centers to the well-being of the island's society through actions and initiatives that respond to the Entity's Corporate Social Responsibility. In this sense, he detailed that 262,000 euros were contributed to the organization and implementation of sporting, cultural and socially rooted events during the second semester of 2023, but that this item has risen to 2.2 M euros during the first semester of this year. "It is our way of contributing to the well-being of the island's population," said Vázquez.
Agreement with the town councils
The councilor also reported on the agreement reached with the town councils last June for the settlement of the fee. "An agreement that allows us to continue building and making this island more competitive by reversing the benefits generated by the updating of the Entity's rates."
As will be recalled, an agreement was signed last June that updated the income received by the town councils for this concept. Thus, since last July, Haría receives 2 euros for each ticket sold to the Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua and maintains the 0.30 cents for each ticket to the Mirador del Río; that Tinajo receives 2.20 euros for each ticket to the Montañas del Fuego, and that Yaiza increases its income thanks to the increase in the collection of the same center.
Similarly, he criticized the conduct of the previous management of the Entity, which "appropriated initiatives that had a marked electoral purpose: the approval of a collective agreement that did not have technical reports to support it or had been taken to the Finance Committee was sold to public opinion. It has been this management and this Government group who promoted the search for solutions to provide the appropriate legal framework to the agreement of the Tourist Centers".
The councilor explained that it was the current management, also, that gave the productivity supplement "foundation and legal basis. We have taken all the necessary, appropriate and legal steps so that it can be a reality next October."
Similarly, during the session, the green light was given to the updating of compensation for reasons of service.
