The health reality of Europe, and also of the Canary Islands, with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, has generated concern among tourism entrepreneurs on the island. In fact, Asolan assures that they have begun to notice cancellations in reservations, especially in British tourism, the main tourist-sending country of Lanzarote.
Since December 1, Britons over 12 years of age must certify that they are vaccinated to enter Spain, even if they have a negative virus detection test. For the president of Asolan, Susana Pérez, this has been one of the causes of the drop in reservations, since in the United Kingdom vaccination between 12 and 17 years old "is preferably with Astrazeneca", which between one dose and another have to pass three months. "You don't just lose a passenger, you lose the whole family", the president told La Voz.
“We have requested the Ministry of Tourism to raise to the Spanish Government that British minors can enter with a negative test”, Pérez pointed out.
In addition, since November 30, passengers entering the United Kingdom, even if they have the complete vaccination schedule, whether they are residents or not, must take a PCR the day after their arrival, and maintain isolation until they have the result. Pérez questions this change of measure, since before this date only "an antigen test" was requested, much cheaper than the price of a PCR.
Susana Pérez recognizes that this situation has generated “certain uncertainty” in the sector with this new variant, although she maintains that they have to wait for the final resolution “of the Scientific Community”.
The cancellations in reservations, for now, only significantly affect the British market. Pérez assures that the rest of the countries “continue to travel normally with the Covid certificate", which reflects having the complete vaccination schedule, a negative test or a certification of having overcome the disease.
However, the vice president of Asolan, Paco Martínez, believes that there is no need to “worry too much” either, since these cancellations do not respond to a “massive” number. In this sense, and in the face of this situation, Martínez maintains that it is necessary to be aware of the course of the days, and hopes that these cancellations in the coming days will be replaced by “new reservations”.
“If there is a hotel with 200 rooms and they get 30 cancellations, they worry a lot”, Martínez assured, although he adds that there is still “no reason” to think that any hotel complex may consider “closing again”.
The Lanzarote Business Circle, also “waiting”
On the other hand, the president of the Lanzarote Business Circle, José Valle, fears that the new variant will generate “new confinements” in the issuing countries, which would seriously affect the sector on the island. In that sense, he affirms that if the cancellations of reservations from the United Kingdom continue throughout the days, they will have to take “a step backwards” in the economic recovery of the island.
Another of the great concerns of the president of the CEL is that if this goes further, many workers will have to return to the ERTE, just at the moment when the island has registered an unemployment figure lower than the figure before the pandemic.
However, José Valle assures that from the CEL they are also “waiting” for the situation to change as soon as possible. “The pandemic is not predictable, and everything depends on the development of this new variant,” he said in statements to La Voz.
“The messages are not being clear either from the WHO and some governments”, also criticizes the president of the CEL, who claims that there should be “a common analysis”, in order to know how to act against this new variant.
