Tourism Announces “Permanent Line of Work” to Rebuild La Palma After Volcanic Eruption

Tourism announces a “permanent line of work” on the sector to rebuild La Palma

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Created on Saturday, May 20, 2023

Written by Time

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, has announced in La Palma a “permanent line of work” between state, regional and island administrations to “reverse the situation that has caused the eruption of the volcano and create an attractive and competitive space as a tourist destination.

Gómez made these statements after meeting with representatives of the island tourism sector together with the socialist candidates for the Cabildo and the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Borja Perdomo and Alicia Vanoostende, whom he has accompanied in their electoral campaign.

The minister has highlighted “the extraordinary forecast of the evolution of tourism in the country as a whole and in the Canary Islands for the year 2023”, although he acknowledges that “in La Palma we are seeing the difficulties that have arisen as a result of the eruption, and how it has conditioned economic development and good expectations”.

Gómez has indicated that “we have identified specific actions to be carried out immediately to improve connectivity, and actions by AENA to create a space with incentives for air traffic on La Palma” after meeting with businessmen from the island.

According to the Minister of Tourism, “from the Government of Spain we want to create an attractive space for tourism that is also very competitive as a destination”, and he has assured that “the island meets all the requirements for this, so we are going to promote it in the main source markets, especially Germany.”

The PSOE candidate for the presidency of the Cabildo de La Palma, Borja Perdomo, thanked the Minister of Tourism for his visit to La Palma because “he knows the importance of the sector on the islands, something that the Island Council and the Government of the Canaries we must take advantage of”.

Perdomo has described the “different concerns” that the tourist representatives have conveyed during the meeting, noting that “one of them is the lack of connectivity, caused, in part, by the lack of tourist beds.”

The socialist candidate for the Cabildo recalled that “in that sense, we were already affected before the eruption, but now we have some 5,000 fewer beds between those in the evacuated nuclei and those that the volcano took away.”

Perdomo defends that “the type of tourism that we want on the island we want to be differentiated, we do not seek to become either the south of Gran Canaria or Tenerife”, although he maintains that “we need more tourist beds in sunny and beach areas, as well as continue promoting the model that has worked well in the northwest region, of rural tourism”.

“We have to do all this with sustainability, the island has to grow in terms of tourism, but in a sustainable way” reiterated the PSOE candidate, who is confident that “as of May 28, I am sure we will have a brave council that promotes policies hand in hand with the sector, which is very important for La Palma”.