As mayor of Teguise, and consequently a resident of the municipality, I want to make some public reflections on a concern that, with some frequency, the residents of the tourist center of Costa Teguise convey to me: the very high cost that it means for each of them to fill the shopping basket.
I am not discovering anything new if I say that the shopping basket in the Canary Islands has a significant difference with the rest of Spain due to its insularity. I am not discovering anything new if I say that the residents of Lanzarote suffer an additional increase every time they go for basic food, due to our double insularity. What may surprise more than one is the triple insularity suffered by all those people who, for various reasons, although mostly for work reasons, have settled in tourist areas such as Costa Teguise.
We all know that supply and demand are the great regulators of the market, and that the price situation when it comes to an activity linked to tourism is not even similar to when we are talking about the residential market. That said, the citizens of Costa Teguise face day after day the contradiction of having to pay tourist prices when their needs, and more importantly, their income, are those of the residential market.
I know that the solution is not easy and that businessmen will have dozens of reasons that justify why they sell at higher prices, for example, than those of the Villa. But the problem exists and, as no one escapes that little can be done from the powers that I have as mayor, I invite a public reflection to those who, from the freedom of the market that we enjoy, can make an effort to contain prices in the face of the reality suffered by the residents of Costa Teguise.
In this sense, a final note for reflection. If the businessmen of Costa Teguise verified the flow of residents residing in this enclave who travel to other points even outside our municipality to acquire their food and basic necessities, I ask myself the following question: Would they not increase their turnover if the residents who today leave Costa Teguise to make their purchases, bought at better prices in those stores...?
There are many formulas to boost purchases in the resident market, from accrediting the residence to loyalty cards issued by the stores that accredit the origin of the buyer and carry a more advantageous pricing policy for the final consumer.
I repeat that it is not in my hand as mayor to modify or interfere in the different economic policies of the companies based in our municipality, but to invite them to a reflection that aims to improve the economy of the families of Teguise.
*Oswaldo Betancort, Mayor of Teguise