The Canary Islands has only managed to have one of its beaches, Las Canteras in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, achieve the Q flag for tourist quality, while the new certificate that guarantees compliance with anti-covid protocols has only been obtained by seven others. Among the latter are four from Lanzarote, and all of them are located in Puerto del Carmen, which already received this distinction last year.
The other three 'Safe Tourism Certified' have been for beaches in Tenerife and all are also in the same municipality, Puerto de la Cruz. where Playa Jardín, Martiánez and Playa San Telmo have received this 'Safe Tourism Certified'. In Puerto del Carmen, the highlights are Playa Grande (Playa Blanca), Los Pocillos, Matagorda and Pila de la Barrilla (Playa Chica).
The rest of the municipalities on the island have not obtained this certificate on any of their beaches, and the island will not have Q flags either. Regarding nautical sports facilities, neither in Lanzarote nor in the Canary Islands has any of the two distinctions been obtained, awarded by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE). The award ceremony took place this Tuesday and was presided over by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the president of the ICTE, Miguel Mirones.
The Q Flags certify the quality of the services provided and 254 have been awarded to beaches and 24 to nautical-sports facilities in 98 municipalities throughout coastal Spain. Likewise, the municipalities have certified a total of 165 beaches and 17 marinas with the 'Safe Tourism Certified' seal.
The list of Flags is led by Andalusia with 131 certified beaches, followed by the Valencian Community with 51, the Region of Murcia with 23, Galicia with 19, the Balearic Islands with 15, the same as Catalonia; Cantabria with 11, Asturias with three, Ceuta with two and Euskadi and the Canary Islands close the list with one each.
Regarding the "Safe Tourism Certified" seal, Andalusia also occupies the first position with 89 certified beaches, followed by the Region of Murcia with 20, the Valencian Community with 17 and the Balearic Islands with 16 and Catalonia with nine.
In the case of marinas, Galicia is in first position with 14, followed by the Valencian Community with four, the same as the Balearic Islands and Andalusia with two.