Coalición Canaria Yaiza considers that the debate about "who should get the 'medal' for the arrival of cruise ships in Playa Blanca is not the most important thing". For the local secretary and spokesperson for CC in the City Council, Emilio Machín, the question is "what is the mayor, Óscar Noda, doing to ensure that this arrival of tourists actually translates into benefits for the municipality".
“The announcement of the arrival of cruise ships is good news. But now it's time to do things right so that Yaiza is prepared and so that these visitors are not limited to getting off the ship and leaving,” says Machín.
The nationalist spokesperson focuses, firstly, on the image that Playa Blanca currently offers, with problems of cleanliness, maintenance, and gardens which, in his opinion, "should be resolved before talking about receiving more visitors".
“We want tourists to get to know Yaiza, to walk through Playa Blanca, to enter our shops and restaurants, and to leave with a good impression. For that, we also have to take care of our streets, our gardens, and our public spaces. We cannot show one face to the cruise passenger and have another for those of us who live here,” he points out.
CC Yaiza also calls for planning in the face of the increase in visitors that cruise calls will entail. The Local Police already has vacancies and the taxi service faces difficulties in meeting demand at certain times, so Machín considers it necessary for the City Council to anticipate the needs that this new flow of tourists may generate.
“If we know that more people are going to arrive, we have to foresee how we are going to serve them. We cannot wait for the problem to appear to start looking for solutions,” he states.
But, for Coalición Canaria, the main challenge is to ensure that the arrival of cruise ships generates activity and money for Yaiza. Machín considers it necessary for the City Council to "work together with merchants, restaurants, and businesses in the municipality to offer cruise passengers reasons to stay in Yaiza: routes, gastronomic proposals, activities, visits to towns, and other alternatives that allow a part of that spending to remain in the municipality".
“We have a lot to offer, but we have to make it easy for those who arrive. We have to tell them where to eat, what to visit, what to buy, and what they can do during the hours they are in Yaiza. That is taking advantage of the cruise ships,” he explains.
The CC spokesperson insists that "success should not be measured by how many ships arrive or by who appears in the photo when they dock, but by what those visitors leave in the municipality." “We don't want cruises for a photo op. We want cruises that generate wealth for Yaiza,” states Machín.
“Noda can keep arguing about who deserves the medal; we want to know what he has prepared as mayor so that Yaiza takes advantage of this opportunity,” he concludes.
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