Holiday giant, Jet2, has warned that the Canary Islands are "playing a dangerous game" following anti-tourism protests. The warning from Britain's top travel company comes to anyone planning to visit Lanzarote and Tenerife, according to British media reports.
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2, said: "Anti-tourism protests and derogatory comments from local administrations make tourists feel unwelcome. People don't come to the Canaries to be mistreated or to witness protests.
Similar anti-tourism protests took place in Mallorca last summer and some British tourists have said that they no longer feel welcome.
"Such incidents tarnish the region's image, pushing tourists toward destinations like Turkey and Morocco, where they feel valued." He added: "Not everyone is rich, and many tourists simply want an affordable and relaxing holiday. If they feel unwanted, they’ll look elsewhere," he was quoted as saying by the British media.
Heapy said: "Rising taxes drive up the overall cost of holidays, reducing demand. While the tourist tax is small, it sets a dangerous precedent." He said: "Governments need to enforce existing regulations and focus on controlling illegal rentals rather than penalising compliant operators.
"They should also work with airlines and tour operators to promote the Canary Islands in key markets like the UK."
5 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Burgundy BlueI was planning to write your answer almost word for word. Note to CD-C : I have heard that argument time after time after forty years plus of time, which by the way takes us back to the 80's when Mallorca had already been rockin' & rollin' for 20 years. There are only two things I can think of which will stop Mallorca being attractive to Europe's thirty odd countries. Severe climate change ( ie total drought) or mass migration in vast numbers from North Africa, possibly driven by the same.
It's not a "game". It's a trend. Mallorca is increasingly appealing to a quality oriented tourist. You can choose to ignore that aspire to continue to attract a declining (and less lucrative) demographic, or embrace it, invest in it, and reap the benefits of that trend.
His remarks are also applicable to Mallorca. I've said before on these pages that the anti-tourism protestors could cost Mallorca 40 years of brand and destination building in addition to multi-millions in loss of earnings. The protestors will be directly responsible for a tourism downturn and each protestor should be held to account for the income losses by being summoned to pay their share of the lost tourism income. The damage the protestors are doing to Mallorca's main source of revenue is immense and they cannot be allowed to get away with it with impunity.
Well if there's a reduction of say 10% in tourist numbers, then that is a good thing. And it's funny how the airlines/hotels etc putting their prices up won't scare off tourists, but the government asking for a few euros (tourist tax) will.
"Not everyone is rich, and many tourists simply want an affordable and relaxing holiday” he says. And why on earth does he think that it is the residents of The Canaries and The Baleares who should suffer hardship to provide this?