The agreements signed between the Government of the Canary Islands and banking entities, destined for financing lines for the tourism sector, have so far meant 110 million in credits granted to entrepreneurs in Lanzarote, according to Javier González Ortiz, Minister of Economy, Finance and Security of the regional Executive, announced this Tuesday.
During a visit to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, the minister and the island's president, Pedro San Ginés, positively valued this "significant volume of investment" that "will have an impact on the modernization and improvement of the sector's competitiveness".
For his part, the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote highlighted that "to this investment effort that the tourism and business sector of the island of Lanzarote is making, the public investments that will be made during this year in this area of action will be added".
In this regard, the visit of González Ortiz focused on the coordination of tourism infrastructure projects planned by the Government of the Canary Islands for the island, among which the 'Lanzarote Bicycle Route' project stands out, endowed with more than 1 million euros and described as "strategic" by both representatives.
Items for tourism
In addition, the minister and the island's president monitored the items of the Canary Islands Executive allocated to tourism in Lanzarote, which amount to more than 4.5 million euros.
Of these, 1.2 million were allocated to infrastructure through the extraordinary credit approved at the end of last year and included in the 2013 Investment Plan of the Island Corporation; 2.2 million are included in the budget for works and investments in 2014 and the rest is distributed in promoting the destination and training workers in the sector through agreements signed between the Government and the Tourism Board.
Likewise, González Ortiz highlighted "the commitment of the Government of the Canary Islands to tourism renovation with the double objective of generating employment, after the intense destruction of jobs in construction, and of maintaining the position of international leadership that the Islands occupy both in the quality of their services and in attracting the number of visitors".
The minister explained, finally, that the work of the Government "focuses on formulas that combine incentives for private initiative with public investment". In this regard, in addition to "measures to facilitate access to credit for the rehabilitation of obsolete accommodation facilities, he pointed out the incentives included in the Canary Islands law on renovation as well as the current modernization plans".
In the case of Lanzarote, there are 47 plans already approved or in negotiation that will involve an investment of close to 80 million euros with an estimate of 3,100 new jobs, according to what they said at the press conference.