The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, has held a meeting with the president and director of the César Manrique Foundation (FCM), José Juan Ramírez and Fernando Gómez Aguilera, respectively, where he highlighted the work of disseminating the cultural, landscape and environmental values, developed by the entity. The president pointed out the importance of recovering the island's identity and highlighting the artist's work from the institutions to the population and towards a well-managed tourism model
This is the president's first institutional visit after the different meetings held with the island's town councils. Oswaldo Betancort attended the FCM accompanied by the CEO of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers, Ángel Vázquez.
Betancort pointed out the importance of recovering and strengthening the island's identity, taking into consideration the legacy of César Manrique. He also stressed the need to highlight the work of the artist from Lanzarote from the institutions, bringing it closer to the population and at the service of a well-managed tourism, offering a hand to improve the state of conservation and maintenance of the César Manrique heritage.
For his part, Gómez Aguilera expressed his gratitude "for the institutional deference that the president of the Cabildo and the Minister of Tourism Centers have had in visiting the Foundation and organizing a meeting with its managers" and highlighted "the broad agenda addressed in the meeting".
He added, moreover, that "the Cabildo, its president and the councilors will always have in the César Manrique Foundation a loyal interlocutor to address those issues in which the Institution can contribute with positive contributions." He also stated that the Foundation will be present in those forums to which it is convened and considers it useful to offer its vision and suggestions to the designs of the analyzed projects.
In the meeting, they also addressed issues on landscaping, aesthetics, chromatism or sustainability, but also discussed the urgency in strengthening collaboration policies between the public and private sectors to define a tourism model that makes the economy of well-being compatible with the conservation of natural resources and quality of life.
In this regard, the representatives of the Cabildo and the Foundation exchanged positions on the problem of access to Timanfaya, positively assessing the implementation of an online reservation system that allows staggered visits of tourists through a correct management of flows by time slots. In addition, the need to increase security in the Centers and in sensitive natural spaces with the aim of avoiding irreversible damage was raised.
Finally, the president announced that the keys to the new Island model that will be agreed upon with all economic and social agents will be debated at the first Island Table that the Cabildo will convene with all the mayors of the Island and "to which, of course, the César Manrique Foundation is invited." Betancort thanked the "exquisite predisposition shown by the FCM to reinforce the prestige of the Tourist Centers and our unique island landscape", as well as to "continue transmitting the legacy of César and fight without complexes for quality tourism".
