The data provided by experts on the impact of the economic and social crisis expected in the Canary Islands in the coming months is chilling. Even in the best-case scenario, even assuming a prompt reopening of the Islands to tourism, we must prepare to withstand very hard months that, in other times, would force many people to pack their bags and emigrate. But that is not an option for us at the moment, so we have no choice but to be patient and prepare for the immediate future.
Aid from the State and, above all, from the European Union is crucial for families, businesses, the self-employed, and workers to withstand the coming months without anyone being left behind. But, if we stop to think about what we will do as a society the day after, we must inevitably cling to tourism as the only realistic option that can guarantee broad economic activity and abundant employment. Everything else, while very important, will not get us ahead at the moment.
The pandemic is leaving us with some lessons. It is true that we must strengthen the primary sector to move towards food sovereignty, protect industry and develop all that is possible, invest in R&D&I, ensure that the Canary Islands are 100% supplied with clean and renewable energy in the shortest possible time, and commit to first-class education. But the evidence tells us that the Europe that will emerge after the pandemic will want to go on vacation and travel to nearby destinations, with good weather and sunshine, with a first-class sea and beaches, rich in nature, with diverse and safe landscapes from a citizen's point of view... and health-wise! They will want to travel to the Canary Islands.
With this, I do not mean that we are going to continue doing the same with tourism as before, far from it. I am rescuing a commitment with which I ran in the elections: the tourism of the present and the future must be based on sustainability and the implementation of tourism intelligence and digitalization. For that reason, I believe that this tragic and uncertain time offers us the opportunity to bet on the rehabilitation and valorization of our tourism, but under a new paradigm of sustainability and quality. I believe that in this way we can be a pioneering, attractive, and competitive destination.
Well, how is that done? The answer is simple, and I don't think there is a single adult in the Canary Islands who doesn't know it, who doesn't know the mistakes we have made in tourism. Today, April 24, César Manrique would be 101 years old. As the centenary of his birth concludes, it occurs to me that we could not give him a better gift than to rescue his criteria and teachings, the valuable legacy of his public work, his courageous defense of quality over quantity, his commitment to natural and cultural heritage, and his way of understanding the relationship between nature, art, and life, and bring it to the tourist field.
Let's not be complacent and continue to respect the rules to avoid contagion and save lives, let's be supportive and do everything possible to ensure that no one is left behind. And hopefully, we can reopen soon and attract tourism safely and with an infallible formula that we all know. The recipe is more César Manrique than ever.
Fco. Manuel Fajardo Palarea, PSOE Senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
