This year there has been a slight drop but we were aware of the difficulties of keeping to that level. During the winter we think things are going to improve.”
An interview with José Manuel Bermúdez, vice-president of the Cabildo (island Government) in Tenerife.
So, where does that general impression come from?I can name hotel managers who have had a great year, so, who is complaining? We should check out people’s businesses. Are they redecorating, innovating their shops, hotels, restaurants in order to offer something different and new?
I insist on statistics; there have not been big changes in the quantity of visitors.
Tour operators have warned about their investments into Egypt, Turkey, Morocco.
They speak about prices. In Egypt, for instance, prices are extraordinarily cheap, there are even free seats on the plane.Who can compete with that?
TheCanary Islands is not an expensive destination
Visitors want even cheaper prices
During the last International Tourist Congress tour operators made it clear that they wanted value for money, more than lower prices.
Their idea is “To improve quality and lower prices”, and that is impossible. We want to provide quality tourism. We don’t want to struggle to compete with Egypt, Morocco or the Caribbean, in fact, we can’t. Tour operators have been our allies but there are contradictions. They say that they don’t want to be a cheap destination but they push for deals of lower than 17€ per day per person in a hotel.
Then, what is the alternative?
Quality. Quality in everything: at the hotel, shops, restaurants.We must restructure our ways of running the tourist industry.
We have got the Reserve for Investment in the Canary Islands, (RIC). This is a fiscal mechanism that enables Canarian companies to auto-finance their investment through a reduction of up to 90% of their corporate income tax. The companies must re-invest tax savings within a certain time frame (3-5 years) in the Canary Islands to qualify for the tax reductions. RIC investments have been concentrated in the real estate and tourism sectors. Any other country in Europe would dream of having such an advantage, but our business people have not known how to handle it.
Paulino Rivero, president of the Canary Island Government, has spoken about a new agreement on turism and investment in remodeling public places by public companies such as GESTUR.
The Canary Government should create a Canary Agency of Restoration, but it would take too long, that’s why GESTUR has been appointed, to invest in old-fashioned places such as Puerto de la Cruz, Arona, Adeje or Santiago del Teide to improve their roads, gardens, squares, etc.
The Cabildo has an agreement between Ashotel and those four town halls to boost those areas in worst condition, and we expect that this project will be finished in 4 years time. The thing is, we can do that but, what is the owner of the shop, restaurant or any other kind of business going to do? This is the key point. Nothing is going to change if businesses don’t change as well. Something has been done in Los Cristianos, but still most of the shops haven’t changed at all; they look like they did in the seventies or eighties when they were first open. This makes our efforts completely useless.
Perhaps they need professional training.
Withing this plan we offer them advice. We are attempting to reach an agreement with some small areas, 200 metres of road, for instance, as well as changing public and private spaces. This would be an example for the rest of the town. We are working on that at the moment.
How important is on-line tourism for Tenerife?
At the moment 60% of tourists come via tour operators, so the internet has become an essential tool as the tendency is that more and more people want to be their own travel agent; they want to see what’s going on at the destination, what it is like, check prices, book flights, hotels, etc.
Our website had a million hits last year, 2007 has doubled that number thanks to a deal with Google signed last February which has given us in a much better position, in the first five on the browser. Visits from the United Kingdom have increased more than a thousand per cent.
However, what we need is private sector investment on their sites, we need them to be aware of the importance of the internet to sell Tenerife and our product.
Puerto de la Cruz needs the marina and fishing port as soon as possible, but they are also asking for a change in the Tenerife Insular Planning Document (PIOT) to allow passengers to come from La Palma. Is the Cabildo giving support to this?
When PIOT was agreed, Puerto de Fonsalía at Guía de Isora was chosen as the best place to initiate a link with La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. It doesn’t mean that if there is a company interested in Puerto de la Cruz, it won’t be able to do it, but it has to be justified by experts not politicians, as the conditions have to be rigth. Approving the last PIOT took 8 years. We think that the construction of the port must start with the current project. Whether it needs a ferry or not it is not something for the Cabildo to comment on.
Is the Orotava valley to have a Golf course?
I think that it needs it, but it doesn’t depend on public money, it is a private enterprise. If the North of Tenerife wants a Golf course it must come from private investment. What we built in Buena Vista was a project to decrease the unemployment level (35% at the time) in that area. If the Cabildo had not financed it, the private sector would not have invested in that part of the island.
Published on Tenerife News by Noemi Hernández.
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