On May 14, I published an article referring to the concept of a double border against Covid 19, which consisted not only of testing national and international flights, but even carrying out the same controls on inter-island trips, and which to some extent has been commented on both inside and outside the networks.
Until today, it continues to generate controversy among different social and, logically, business groups, on how to carry out the "escalation" in tourism. I believe that this is a topic on which excessive analysis is not appropriate, because, as someone said, it leads to paralysis.
From our group, we understand that the reality regarding health security in tourism is a situation that, in addition to being unexpected, is disconcerting due to the continuous changes in the regulations applied to this sector, sometimes dictated from Europe and others with immense folly by the Government of Spain, in which one thing is said at noon and just the opposite is ordered a few hours later, planning in any matter becomes complicated.
Without neglecting that reality, we believe that we must be inflexible in what concerns us as the Government of the Canary Islands in what is in our hands..., we already took measures as a government in 2014 with Ebola and for strictly reasonable reasons it was never discussed.
We are still, and not for long, at a key moment that, if well managed, could have unbeatable conditions for the future development of a sector that drives the economy of all Canarians, a moment in which planning with a head becomes necessary because the well-being of all of us depends on it.
We think that the Canary Islands should de facto become a COVID FREE SANCTUARY. It is the opportunity that the Canary Islands has to weather the coming months of economic debacle.
If the Canary Islands achieves the reputation of being free of Covid, I assure you that tourists will not mind complying with the health requirements, however demanding they may be, to fly with their family and enjoy our climate in a social environment that may not be possible in the European continent for many months.
Our insularity, being fragmented, becomes a huge asset to achieve that control situation. Taking extreme precautions, even carrying out controls on inter-island flights in addition to those arriving from outside the Canary Islands, will allow us to have responsible certificates of being free of the virus. Even with controls on the crews of merchant ships and that these to dock in our ports must be certified as COVID FREE.
We need to manage our tourism ourselves. And we have already seen how the enlightened advisors of the Government of Spain in this matter do things, and believe me that it does not reassure me at all, neither me nor the vast majority of Canarians.
Demanding triple control, starting with the first test necessary for the purchase of the vacation package, the second at our airport, because in the following 48 hours of the first test the tourist could have been infected, will safely allow us to diagnose the health of visitors and certify that they enter the Canary Islands clean. Carrying out a test at the end of their vacation will certify that they leave Covid clean in the same way. A logical procedure with which to provide security to those who visit us. At the same time, carrying out mass tests on the population will allow us to further limit the spread of this pandemic. They enter clean and leave clean from the Canary Islands.
The stricter the conditions for entering the Sanctuary, the safer and happier the tourists will feel to enter it. We urgently need greater autonomy from Madrid for decision-making and the adoption of the necessary measures regarding tourism planning and promotion, and among other conditions, it requires that some Canarian be at the core of decision-making in tourism matters and ensure that the purpose of establishing a clear disconnection from the Spain tourist brand prevails. I already mentioned it in my article "Yes, we are different" (May 14), and I copy verbatim: "The Canary Islands, together with the Balearic Islands, must have a differentiated strategy that shows that they are among the regions least affected by the pandemic in Spain and the world." And for a change, we are still on time, but each day that passes it gets a little complicated by the adoption of restrictive measures by the different governments of the tourism-issuing union, such as the one published today in England that clarifies that the United Kingdom excludes Spain from the corridor for tourism, or what is the same, it is recommended not to travel to Spain.
It already was in 2014, with the temperature taking in our ports and airports by the Government of the Canary Islands, when Ebola arrived. The legal framework therefore exists, the question is the political will with which we approach and undertake those necessary contingency plans that allow us to position the Canary Islands in the international tourism framework as a safe destination in the world. The quarantine that was proposed for the isolation of tourists arriving at our destination, I assure you, does not point in the same direction as what I propose today. Let those who know about this in the Canary Islands work, who will surely contemplate our reality differently than in Madrid.