The Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of Lanzarote are going to approve a rise in the prices of their tickets. Three decisions are going to be made: end the bonuses, raise the price of the ticket and maintain the rate for residents of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands. The idea is that the people of Lanzarote enjoy their island, and that tourists pay the real value of a cultural, artistic and natural offer that is unique in the world.
As a Lanzarote native in love with my land, as a journalist who has always defended César's legacy, I believe that selling a ticket to Timanfaya for 6 euros is an insult to Manrique's memory and a contempt for our island, which also means despising the value of Lanzarote as a brand, and Manrique's legacy as an artist.
To get an idea of how we have allowed our Centers to depreciate, I am going to use our flagship as an example: Timanfaya.
Currently the entrance to the park costs 12 euros. If the visit is organized by a travel agency, they take a 25% commission, leaving the entrance at 9 euros. Certainly a great deal for everyone except the people of Lanzarote, who are the final owners of the public company.
Even more serious is the bonus. If a tourist buys a bonus for the Centers, the one with the biggest discount leaves the price per center visited at just under 6 euros. It is not a bad joke, although it may seem like it: entering Timanfaya costs a tourist with a bonus only 6 euros. It is really offensive.
To understand how the greatest spectacle on our island is being undersold, let's look at prices of other visitable sites in other destinations. A visit to the Real Madrid museum costs between 25 and 37 euros; a ticket to the Alhambra in Granada costs 39.95 euros; a ticket to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona costs 38 euros; a ticket to the Teide cable car (only to the cable car) costs 22 euros...and so we could continue with an endless list.
But as if that were not enough, a movie ticket in Lanzarote costs 6 euros and a rum and coke combo in a bar is between 6 and 9 euros. In plain language, a travel agency pays for a ticket to Timanfaya what it costs to drink a "cubata", and a tourist with a bonus finds it more expensive to go to the cinema than to visit Timanfaya. Does anyone believe that this is not an absolute disgrace and that Lanzarote is being undersold?
I am hurt, and at times indignant, by the false and self-serving controversy over the prices of the Centers, as it does not withstand the slightest comparison with what is happening in our environment.
When a visitor enters Timanfaya, they are accessing a unique natural landscape. They are enjoying a spatial work by Manrique. They are surprised by the living presence of the volcano in the form of a cloud of burning steam and travel through a lunar landscape along an unparalleled route, that of the volcanoes.
That unique experience is really priceless. That is why the increase to 20 euros for the entrance to Timanfaya is not only understandable, but essential, and I am convinced that, looking at it in perspective, there is room for a safe increase.
Operating costs and the value of our legacy
But in addition, the Centers are a company, which has had its costs increased, such as fuel, raw materials, salary costs, etc. Raising prices is an obligation as a manager and as a company.
I want to close this first article by thinking about the great island we have, which captivates our visitors like few places on the planet. The Centers are not only visitor centers, from them we understand our nature and our history, as we understand our architecture and the art of our universal Manrique.
Therefore, just as I undoubtedly defend the increase in the price of the entrance to Timanfaya, I consider it essential that the entrance for residents remains at a price of 2 euros. They are our Centers, they are our treasure, Manrique's heritage, and they must be within the reach of residents, and that tourists pay what they are worth.
One of the ways to revalue a product is the price, if we give away the Centers, we despise the island and Manrique. From that point of view, I have no choice but to understand and support the person responsible for the increase, no matter how much pressure they are under.
