As every September 27th, World Tourism Day arrives, which this year is celebrated with the motto, chosen by the UN, "Tourism and community development".
Community development, according to the UN doctrine, requires both the involvement of local communities in the decision-making that affects them, and their participation in the value chain of the sector, so it is worth asking precisely about the participation of the island society in the benefits produced by tourism.
There is no doubt about the fundamental role of the tourism sector in achieving the well-being of this island and its people, but the process of degradation of working conditions in the sector that initially could be attributed to the crisis, remains in situations of very high occupation.
The assessments of unions and employers clash head-on. The social part maintains that once the occupation figures have been recovered, there is room to recover part of what has been lost. The business representation responds that the recovery is fragile and that prices remain at levels that prevent the improvement of working conditions.
As a left-wing militant, as a socialist, I am clearly inclined to support the position of the unions: if the occupation improves, the conditions of the workers must improve. I can understand the reasons put forward by the employers, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for me. There have been many months of improvements, while working conditions continue to harden.
The absence of conflict with which this process of loss of rights has been received has been due to an enormous responsibility on the part of the workers, and their unions, who have understood the conditions through which the tourism market was going.
That responsibility cannot be considered as a blank check, it must be rewarded with an honest and rigorous collective negotiation, with figures on the table within the reach of the social part, which can convey the reality of the sector to the citizens. If this is not done, the feeling that some are coming out of the crisis much better than the rest will spread more and more. It is not good in the medium and long term for social peace in the sector.
As is not good the threat that looms over our main industry: the surveys authorized by José Manuel Soria, paradoxical Minister of Tourism of the government of the Popular Party. A government that already saw a minister fall due to political and social pressure. Perhaps José Manuel Soria, sooner rather than later, will be the next to take the same path as Gallardón. Equal in their arrogance, they will share destiny.
I want to end with my sincere congratulations for the granting of the Isla de Lanzarote Award to Kenneth Gasque, and of the Distinguished Tourism Awards to the Hotel Lancelot, in the Company category; to the WineRun, in the Event category; and to Virgilio Suárez, promoter of the Hotel Los Fariones, posthumously, as Personality.
And I cannot fail to remember a group as invisible and sacrificed as that of the room maids. They had their award as an outstanding group in 2009, with a socialist government in the Cabildo, but I sincerely think that they should have a special recognition every time tourism is talked about.
María Dolores Corujo, Insular Secretary PSOE of Lanzarote
