Unidos por Yaiza has decided to bring a motion to the Yaiza Municipal Plenary next Friday with the aim of expressing the City Council's "rejection" of the Lanzarote Cabildo's "imposition" of raising the rates of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of Lanzarote in a "disproportionate" manner, and without the necessary consensus, as well as with the economic studies that support said measure.
The Unidos por Yaiza group, led by the party's president and mayor Óscar Noda, considers it necessary to "adopt" this agreement to "avoid harming" the circular economy that exists around the network of Tourist Centers of Lanzarote. Noda maintains that "we do not share a disproportionate increase, especially if it is not agreed with the key players, so we are taking a motion to the municipal Plenary urging the Cabildo to leave it on the table."
Expanding on this concern, the UPY spokesperson, Daniel Medina, points out that "the Cabildo of Lanzarote with this measure demonstrates a lack of sensitivity, not only with the tourist themselves, but with all the restaurants, with all the companies in sectors linked to tourism and in the specific case of Yaiza even with the camel herders themselves."
Medina explains that "from Unidos por Yaiza we base our argument on the fact that a 40 percent increase in the entrance fee to the Timanfaya National Park means that a large number of tourists prioritize buying only the entrance to the Mountains of Fire to the detriment of being able to also pay for the service provided by our camel herders, specifically, the sustainable experience of camel rides along the southern slope of Timanfaya." UPY estimates that the increase also "indirectly harms the restaurateurs" of the municipality, as well as other services and/or excursions, apart from being a "bossy act" by whoever executes it "without counting on anyone or anything."
According to Unidos por Yaiza, the municipalist force shares the opinion expressed by other political forces at the island level, and the essential thing, "we share the opinion expressed by the Lanzarote Tourism Federation that has already described this increase as exorbitant. In Unidos por Yaiza we understand that an update of the rates of the Art and Culture and Tourism Centers of Lanzarote is necessary, as we agree on giving value to our own network of centers and especially to the legacy that César Manrique and his collaborators left for Lanzarote, but we do not share in any way an increase that is not agreed with the key players, a disproportionate increase for the times and that in some cases reaches up to 60% of the rate of the tourist center."
UPY understands and expresses through its spokesperson that "the forms in the exercise of public responsibility are very important and lies have a very short journey, so the Tourism Business Association itself has reminded the president, Oswaldo Betancort, for having stated that there was a consensus around this measure when in reality there was not, according to the latest news and the rectification demanded by the tourism entrepreneurs, so the president should offer his apology."
Study and consensus
In the motion proposed by Unidos por Yaiza, and according to what the Tourism Business Association proposes, the Cabildo is requested that the previously agreed increase in the rates of the Tourist Centers begin to apply from the beginning of the tourist season and not per calendar year: "Thus, the logical thing would be for that agreed measure to begin to be applied from May 1, 2024, which is when the tourist season begins, and not from January 1 in the middle of the winter season."
In short, from the southern organization they request that the Yaiza City Council "reject" the imposition of the rates of the Art, Cultural and Tourism Centers of Lanzarote, requesting the Cabildo of Lanzarote to "leave on the table" this increase in the rates of the CACT. Thus promoting agreements with the City Councils and with the Tourism Business Association for an "agreed and progressive increase", as well as having "economic reports" that justify, graduate and plan these increases.
