A delegation from the Lanzarote Tourism Federation (FTL), headed by its president, Susana Pérez, held a working meeting with the president of the Island Council, María Dolores Corujo, this Tuesday to jointly analyze several issues that concern the employers' association and that "directly affect the competitiveness of the sector and Lanzarote as a tourist destination".
According to the Tourism Federation, one of the first issues addressed "urgently", due to "the economic damage it is causing to users", are "the water cuts for irrigation that have been suffered since last August, having to use both lodging establishments and private homes with gardens, general supply water, the same situation that affects the agricultural sector".
"It is urgent to act in this regard, as it represents an enormous environmental and economic cost that is affecting industrial tourism users, who are forced to use general water for irrigation at a price of 2.91 euros/m3, instead of purified water with a rate of 0.30 euros/m³. This situation is unsustainable for companies, individuals, as well as the agricultural sector", said the president of the employers' association, Susana Pérez.
Likewise, the Tourism Federation stated that another problem "endemic and regrettable for the sustainable development of Lanzarote are the permanent water losses from the supply network".
"In addition to the constant inconvenience to tourists and residents due to the repair works and their cost, it is dizzying to think that to produce one m3 of supply water it is required to extract two m3 of sea water, an enormous environmental cost that no territory can afford, and even less Lanzarote as a Biosphere Reserve", they point out from the employers' association.
Improvements at the airport
Another of the issues addressed at the meeting was the Lanzarote Airport, the main gateway for tourists and passengers in general. In this regard, the Lanzarote Tourism Federation points out that although "the Cesar Manrique airport is the ninth in the Aena network, with what this represents in revenue for Aena, however the benefits do not revert in the same proportion as other airports".
"An improvement is required in the accesses to the airport, bus parking, commercial terminal where private jets arrive with high purchasing power tourists, accessing an area in a deplorable state of maintenance and cleaning, as well as the need to have the corresponding Master Plan", enumerated Susana Pérez.
Planning plans
In another order, the businessmen also conveyed to the island president their interest in knowing the status of the document of the Island Planning Plan (PIOL), "as it is a vital instrument for the development and future of Lanzarote, as well as the PRUG of the Chinijo Archipelago, which also includes Caleta de Famara, with a significant number of homes for tourist use that are waiting to process the corresponding authorizations as vacation homes and be able to operate with all the guarantees".
In this regard, the employers' association states that "the president of the Cabildo conveyed that she is aware of the need for these territorial instruments" and that "she is forming the work team to address the elaboration of the same, setting as an objective to culminate the planning in this legislature".
Other issues discussed were infrastructures and projects as well as the taxi service, agreeing to hold future meetings to address these issues in depth.
Tourist data
Finally, the tourist data after the end of 2019 were analyzed. According to the Tourism Federation, both parties positively valued the data provided by markets loyal to Lanzarote such as the British or Irish and the growth of the national as well as the French, but shared the concern for the German and Nordic markets, which year after year, continues to show negative data.
"This evidences the need to know in greater depth a tourist profile different from that of tour operation and to carry out a destination strategy, valuing all the attributes of Lanzarote, which allows to attract tourists with greater purchasing power and increase spending at the destination", said the president of the Tourism Federation.
Susana Pérez also conveyed to the president of the Cabildo the "discomfort" of the employers' association with the distribution of some items of the State-Canary Islands Agreement of 15 million euros destined to alleviate the effects of Thomas Cook. Among others, with the item for actions at the destination, "distributed equally between both provinces, being the province of Las Palmas, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, the one with the greatest tourist weight, adding more tourists than the province of Tenerife".
To conclude, Pérez thanked the island president for the reception and before concluding the meeting pointed out that "the dialogue with the institutions is always important and necessary to give greater and better resolution to the problems that affect the different tourist sectors", highlighting above all, the need for coordination with various entities to avoid the collapse that could occur in any area.
Attract a profile of "different tourist"
"This meeting aims to put on the table those issues that require action between both parties. It is very important that the island public institution and the federation hold regular meetings to solve possible incidents and assess how to improve in the sector. Lanzarote deserves dialogue and transparency to continue growing", said for its part the president of the Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo, after the meeting.
In this regard, the institution points out that Corujo reaffirmed that "we must be attentive to a different tourist profile and carry out a strategic plan to retain it". "For this, coordination between both parties is essential", he said.