The world's most relevant tourist destinations find themselves in the difficult position of redefining themselves, with the consequent risk of failing to do so and moving to irrelevance, a moment prior to other more serious problems.
To say that Lanzarote is one of those successful destinations is not an exercise in vanity, it is a verifiable reality, at the same time as being in that juncture that marks our future as an island, as a territory, as a society, and finally, as a tourist destination. The current global context adds even more uncertainty, if possible, with unpromising geopolitical, climatic, economic, or technological dynamics.
What relationship is established between this paragraph and Domingo Concepción, the person posthumously honored this weekend?
From this humble opinion, there is a close connection between the biologist's ideology and the core of the debate that destinations are currently facing. Domingo's ideology did not start from radicalism, denial of any type of development, intransigence with other actors, or distrust of the establishment.
Without pretensions of delving into the political arena, it should be remembered that Lanzarote was once again a pioneer in addressing the debate, on a large scale, of its (sustainable) tourism strategy, back in the 2000s, to define tourism growth with the legally failed moratorium. That debate, open, very plural, well-structured in different thematic areas, led by the Biosphere Reserve Office, was also participated in by the environmentalist sector, which had already had an important role against projects like Maciot Sport, which intended to urbanize a large area very close to the Timanfaya National Park, with numerous golf courses. By the way, the rejection of said project evidenced, in my opinion, the insular foresight in defending a tourism model in line with the environment that Domingo so defended.
We are not talking about a simple biologist, Concepción was a sharp analyst of the island's reality, of the balances between tourist development and territorial, social, and economic stability, which even at that time were glimpsed as threatened. I vividly remember the heated debates of that era, within the councils of the Reserve, trying to agree on a strategy that would allow Lanzarote to move forward on the path of common sense, shoring up the tourism model that would guarantee those balances that are now beginning to overflow. In his capacity as president of El Guincho, he acted as an environmental educator, using pedagogy and knowledge, against the other members of the board, who from their position advocated for a Lanzarote that was not always in agreement. That work as an educator was the prelude to his time as a teacher at the Lanzarote University School of Tourism, of which I was a witness for a good period, and I also got to know his luminous human facet.
Thanks to Domingo Concepción, I appreciated the necessary work of environmentalism, which I believe is often unfairly denigrated, always branded as extreme positions, perhaps harmed by unconventional forms of expression. The lesson he left me with was that Lanzarote's value lay in its natural environment, in its biodiversity, and that its protection is an act of faith, based on deep knowledge, on research, and on analysis.
Therefore, we are facing a great reference, of an extraordinary dimension, whose theses we must put on the table to discern with more light what Lanzarote we want, as residents and as managers of a tourist destination with an international positioning that no one doubts. Concepción fiercely defended the human and animal ecosystems of Lanzarote, as the main bulwarks of our identity and the maintenance of the status that, as a tourist reception area, we want to maintain in the long term. If we look around us, we observe tourist destinations without a compass, with worrying and just social mobilizations (without access to housing in decent conditions), with galloping losses of biodiversity, with levels of congestion and saturation incompatible with vacation well-being, without addressing the often feared expression of "carrying capacity", without an energy model alternative to fossil fuels, etc. In Lanzarote we are not at that crossroads, but it is not so far away nor should it sound like something remote. We have the great opportunity to become the great exception among tourist destinations, mostly lacking the philosophy and consensus existing in Lanzarote about the qualitative model we should promote. We can achieve that longed-for balance between citizen well-being and that sought by the most demanding visitor, paying the high price that Lanzarote deserves, proportional to the natural and landscape value we have.
To the extent that Domingo Concepción's intellect and scientific arguments are present, Lanzarote will manage to materialize this great opportunity.
I can only congratulate the organizers and entities of this tribute and once again offer my condolences to family and friends, who can feel pride in the trajectory and influence of this outstanding figure.
Héctor Fernández Manchado
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