The Podemos Parliamentary Group has warned that "worrying figures" are being recorded regarding the tourist load in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which are already "in the ratio of 17 tourists per inhabitant." "In Ibiza, this figure is 20 and its overcrowding is openly recognized," warned deputy Natividad Arnáiz through a question addressed to the new Minister of Tourism of the Canary Islands Government, Isaac Castellano.
Anáiz has harshly criticized the fact that the Canarian Executive does not have any type of study on the tourist load and its effects on the territory and the environment, calling it "irresponsible", when we receive "more than 16 million tourists" in the Canary Islands. The deputy explained that she requested in writing the studies that the Government has on this matter and the response was "that they did not have them." "And yet when they hear the words carrying capacity and impact on the environment, they immediately say that there is no problem," she continued.
Arnáiz has asked how the president and the Minister of Tourism could affirm "categorically" in the previous plenary session of Parliament "that the tourist offer has not reached its peak and that the Canary Islands can still continue to assimilate tourists." "How do they know? If they haven't even studied it," the Podemos deputy reproached them, who considers it "urgent" to carry out "a serious and rigorous analysis" on the matter. "It cannot be something that we can leave for the Strategic Tourism Plan because it is projected towards 2040," she added.
Urges the Government to carry out an "urgent" study
The Podemos deputy has also pointed out that the tourist load of the Canary Islands cannot be limited only to the Territorial Plans of each island "because the true pressure of a territory is not measured only by the relationship between the visiting and local population." Arnáiz has stated that the tourist load and its impact on the environment is much more than that, "since tourists have to be fed and watered, their swimming pools filled, golf courses watered, etc."
Natividad Arnáiz has urged the Canarian Government to start working on this urgently and has finished her speech by asking if the Government really knows "how much water and electricity 16 million tourists consume, how much waste they generate and how much its treatment costs, if they know how they move and what public services they use in order to reinforce them."
In this regard, it should be remembered that the Minister of Tourism of the regional Executive, Isaac CAstellano, announced last month, on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, that the Government of the Canary Islands was going to open a debate on limiting tourism growth based on the carrying capacity of the islands but, "from serenity" and avoiding alarms."
