Since the sixties of the last century, tourism has been an essential part of our economic structure and our employment. Rethinking and improving it is an obligation of this society and its institutions. Rigorously analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. Making reasoned decisions with the highest possible level of support to make it more sustainable and more socially profitable. So that our economic engine is perceived positively, as an indisputable element of well-being and not as a problem, by the vast majority of the men and women of this land.
Of course, there was a pre-tourist Canary Islands. And it was no better, by the way. It was characterized by caciquismo, extreme poverty, lack of infrastructure, weak public services, low levels of education and high illiteracy. As well as cyclical migratory processes to other lands, especially Latin American countries, in search of opportunities to progress that here were an absolute chimera. I don't think anyone currently intends to return to that past in which Canarians lived much worse.
The positive economic impact of tourism together with the substantial advances that democracy and self-government brought -with a qualitative leap in education, health and public infrastructures- led our Archipelago to reach significant levels of development. Beginning to emerge from the enormous backwardness we suffered with respect to the rest of the communities of the Spanish State and Europe. Which does not mean that there are no pending deficits and problems -in inequalities or in territorial and environmental protection- that we can and must overcome with our capacity for self-government; and with good governance.
Distortions
Another thing is that tourism has had and has distortions; they are produced, with different characteristics, by all economic sectors. In the case of tourism, among others, the territorial occupation -especially of our coasts- and the high consumption of electricity or water, as well as the generation of waste, by millions of visitors. The high external dependence. The presence of low-skilled employment with low wages. Or its influence on demographic problems. Other communities with a significant weight of tourism suffer similar problems.
In the last twenty-five years of the 20th century, the Canary Islands became a world tourist power, with more than ten million foreign visitors. The population increased by more than 400,000 people. And elements of loss of quality of the destination began to be detected. These and other reasons led us at the end of the 20th century to make different decisions when I had the honor of presiding over the Government of the Canary Islands, in the 1999-2003 legislature. On the one hand, with the generation of a plural and qualified Commission of Experts on Demography and Immigration. On the other hand, with the approval of Law 6/2001 on Urgent Measures in Matters of Territorial Planning and Tourism of the Canary Islands (better known as the tourist moratorium law) that allowed the declassification of hundreds of thousands of beds, making it possible, among other things, to save areas such as Veneguera from their urbanization, a situation later fully ratified with a law that declared its ravine as a protected natural space.
And, also, with Law 19/2003 of Guidelines for Planning and Tourism, which had the unanimous support of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, and which was committed to containing growth and quality. Subsequent governments slowed down the development of the guidelines. Time and reality confirm that its central elements are still fully valid. I am referring to the renunciation of further occupation of territory, betting on the renovation of the obsolete accommodation plant; the updating and improvement of tourist cities; the diversification and qualification of the offer; or the essential permanent training of personnel. The law of the guidelines also included limitations on tourism growth, conditioned to quality criteria.
In 2023 we were visited by about 16 million tourists, of which 14 million were foreigners. With an expenditure exceeding 20,000 million euros. Tourism accounts for almost 40% of GDP and, according to data from Turespaña, there are almost 265,000 people working in the tourism sector in the Islands, 26% of those employed. But, in addition, it has a positive impact and also pulls other sectors. An important part of the IGIC that is generated in the Islands is of tourist origin.
The Canary Islands has more than 545,000 tourist accommodation places, of which 46% are hotels, 18% apartments and 36% corresponds to vacation homes. Today our Archipelago stands out not only for being a sun and beach destination but also for a significant sports, cultural or gastronomic offer; with a much higher quality than what there was at the beginning of this century. But it is necessary to address with courage distortions that affect the territory, the environment and its inhabitants.
Vacation rental
This is the case of vacation rentals, especially in overcrowded urban environments. It must be properly regulated, as other very relevant world tourist destinations are already doing. In addition, of course, to propose actions that combine the increase of public protection housing for the most vulnerable sectors with those of private promotion at competitive prices, through public-private cooperation, both in sale and rent; and favor the incorporation into the market of a relevant percentage of the houses that are empty today, which exceed 220,000.
For this and other problems directly or indirectly linked to tourism activity -housing, but also those that affect traffic and mobility in some islands, as well as respect for our heritage- a citizen discomfort begins to become visible, as we have recently seen in the Guanarteme neighborhood in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or in La Laguna, in Famara or in Taganana, in the Dunes of Maspalomas or in the Teide National Park. Germ of a tourismophobia that is only combated from a modulated tourist development, respectful with the territory and the environment, as well as with our identity, and that substantially improves the living conditions of the inhabitants of this land.
Last year 2023 our wealth exceeded 54,000 million euros. But the per capita income, about 24,400 euros, is almost 6,000 euros below the state. At the beginning of the century we were almost in convergence with the state average (97.7%), now we are around 80%. In that clear decline, without a doubt, the excessive population growth experienced in that period, above half a million inhabitants, influences. In unemployment we are also further from the state average than at the beginning of the century. And we continue to have high levels of poverty. For the collective welfare it is necessary to reverse this situation.
