The Canary Islands Government has signed a collaboration agreement with the illegal Sandos Papagayo hotel (formerly Papagayo Arena) to train employees or future workers of the tourist complex, which has been open for 17 years without any title that enables it and is one of the most controversial urban planning causes in Lanzarote.
The agreement signed between the Employment Service of the regional Executive and the property Papagayo Arena SL, published this Monday in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), seeks "the improvement of professional qualification" of employees, based on Law 2/2013 on tourism renovation and modernization in the archipelago.
The Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Canary Islands, Jéssica del Carmen de León, signed this collaboration with the promoter of Sandos Papagayos for "the continuous training of its staff" and to collaborate "in the training of unemployed people" to later incorporate them into the appropriate staff. However, this agreement "does not imply financial contributions" from either party.
Among the most striking points of the agreement, the regional Executive states that the entity Papagayo Arena SL "plans to develop a five-star hotel" in the municipality of Yaiza, since it requested "the mandatory prior authorization" from the Cabildo of Lanzarote. Despite having requested the tourist license from the first island institution in 2020, the establishment is already open to the public and has been offering service for two decades, although it has its license annulled by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands in 2007 and declared criminal by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas in 2016.
With this agreement, the Canary Islands Employment Service commits to promoting the adaptation of professionals, depending on the labor market, to pre-select applicants, to advise on employment contracts and hiring subsidies and to promote training programs. Meanwhile, the company commits to adapting the training for its workers, to participate in calls for subsidies for the financing of training programs with a commitment to hiring, to facilitate labor and non-labor practices, or to submit job offers to the SCE, among others.
This agreement will be valid until December 31 of the following year in which "the renovated and/or modernized hotel facilities come into operation with a maximum period of four years from its signing."
Without urban planning license
The publication of this agreement occurred on the same day that the Governing Council of the Cabildo of Lanzarote approved the initiation of the file to authorize the provisional tourist classification of this illegal hotel. However, the granting of the urban planning license, on which its legalization depends, must be given by the Yaiza City Council, which has encountered various problems to regularize it.
The current insular Government Group, headed by Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular, defended in a statement that the initiation of this procedure seeks to "comply with the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands", of December 2023, which rejected the sealing and demolition of the illegal complex.
Likewise, the report approved this past Monday by the Governing Council warns the property of said hotel that "the provisional tourist authorization is subject to obtaining the corresponding municipal urban planning license, as well as the mandatory authorization from Coasts".
The first island corporation then stressed that the competence of the Cabildo is limited "only to the granting or denial of tourist authorizations and classified activities, in accordance with the provisions of tourist regulations".
The southern consistory itself already concluded in 2016 that this establishment, located in a privileged location next to the Natural Monument of Los Ajaches, was unlegalizable. This tourist accommodation occupies a public access road to Las Coloradas beach and privatizes it "de facto", in addition to exceeding the permitted height.
About the public maritime-terrestrial domain
In addition, the General Directorate of Coast and Sea published on July 8 the definitive demarcation of Coasts in Playa Blanca, which determined that the protection zone of the Las Coloradas Partial Plan occupies a width of 100 meters, so most of the Papagayo Arena hotel is within the new protection easement.
Meanwhile, the Sandos Papagayo opposes the demarcation of Coasts and defends that "there is absolutely nothing to protect".
Complaint to the Prosecutor's Office
The civic association El sol sale para todos filed a complaint against the Government of the Canary Islands and the Yaiza City Council for not acting against one of the illegal hotels in Playa Blanca. Among them, he stated that the "most egregious" case is that of Papagayo Arena, one of the three accommodations that have not been able to legalize their situation.
Now, the association El sol sale para todos accused the Yaiza City Council and the autonomous Executive of "disobeying the firm judicial resolutions and of omitting the duty to prosecute crimes". The association insisted that "the current situation be resolved once and for all", which "only benefits the hotel".
