Tourism entrepreneurs of the Canary Islands, grouped in the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas (FEHT); the Hotel and Extra-Hotel Association of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, Ashotel; the Association of Tourist Entrepreneurs of Fuerteventura (Asofuer), and the Tourist Federation of Lanzarote (FTL), have expressed this Friday their concern about the consequences for the Canary Islands of the entry into force of the new regulatory framework on payment of emission rights for flights in European airspace, which will begin to apply at the beginning of 2024 and will become fully effective in the year 2026. This scenario is defined by tourism entrepreneurs as "very detrimental to the Archipelago and, in particular, to the competitiveness of its tourism sector", insofar as it does not exclude flights between airports in the European Union (plus the United Kingdom and Switzerland) and the Canary Islands from paying these costs.
Tourism business associations point out that "the application of this measure will be a clear detriment to a strategic sector of the islands' economy, by increasing the cost of air travel from the main issuing markets to the Canary Islands." Therefore, they urge to negotiate the application in this case of the same measure that has been approved for inter-island flights and transfers between the rest of Spain and the Canary Islands, "for a simple question of equity and social justice." As an example, they recall the "adoption of multiple recent exceptional measures adopted in defense of strategic sectors of the economy of EU member countries, such as decisions to contain the price of hydrocarbons necessary for the competitiveness of industry in a context of rising raw material prices."
For tourism entrepreneurs, the general philosophy that supports the application of payment for greenhouse gas emission rights is a concept that the tourism sector of the Canary Islands supports and endorses, "but it must also incorporate corrective measures that make a just transition in the use of fossil fuels possible," they comment. "The case of the Archipelago is a very clear example in this regard, for a double reason: for its outermost condition and for the relevance of the tourism sector in its economic model, an essential factor for its present and future collective prosperity," the business associations point out, stressing that the entry into force of the framework approved two weeks ago by the EU trilogue (European Council, European Commission and European Parliament) "could only be defined as a negotiating failure for the Canary Islands," for not including an exemption in the payment of rights for all flights between European airspace and the Islands. "That and no other is the necessary measure for the Canary Islands and the one that must be included in the final wording of the rule," say the hotel business associations of the islands.
On the other hand, the alternatives proposed by the European negotiators for the exemption in the payment of emission rights on flights are "insufficient and incomplete," they consider. The Canary Islands tourism sector contemplates with hope the progressive implementation of sustainable fuels in commercial aviation, such as biofuel and synthetic fuel, but at the same time considers "unfeasible to link right now the exemption in the payment of emission rights with the use of scarce products in the aviation fuel market, whose implementation also involves technical drawbacks verified by companies in the aeronautical sector."
"It simply does not make sense to condition the exemption of flights to the Canary Islands to the use of a product that may not be available in the market, for an elementary question of efficiency and equity," emphasize the tourism entrepreneurs on this option, which in no way is comparable to the measure requested by the Canary Islands in this negotiation, and that is none other than the total exemption.
On the other hand, the tourism business associations understand and support the negotiating effort made by the Canary Islands representatives in the EU institutions and the active and vigilant position shown by the Government of the Canary Islands during this decisive process for the competitiveness of the tourism sector of the islands in the near future. However, at the same time, they regret the "absence of the necessary firmness in the position of the Government of Spain regarding this matter, as guarantor of the general interest of the outermost regions (ORs) of the European Union, among which the Canary Islands is the most relevant from the demographic and economic point of view. And all this, remembering that a sudden increase in the price of flights could have dramatic consequences for the Archipelago in the economic and social spheres, a risk that must be avoided at all costs if we really want to defend the economic viability of a Spanish and European territory with more than two million inhabitants."
"Therefore, and in order to safeguard the future economic viability of the Canary Islands, the tourism entrepreneurs insist on the adoption of sufficient measures to ensure that flights to the Archipelago will not suffer an imminent increase," conclude from the Tourist Federation.
