Antonio Morales advocates a comprehensive model of sustainable tourism to promote the development of mountain municipalities

 

The president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, advocated implementing a comprehensive model of sustainable tourism in mountain territories, integrated into the environment and respectful of their values ​​and identity, to promote their development, at the opening ceremony of the conference held by the Spanish Association of Mountain Municipalities, esMontañas, at the Parador Nacional de Tejeda, under the title 'Challenges and opportunities in tourism management in mountain towns'.

 

 

In his speech, Morales also stressed that the challenge for these mountain spaces “is to make adaptation and mitigation to climate change an opportunity, to turn them into a reference for environmental sustainability, and to promote a development model linked to sovereignties. energy, water and food”.

 

He stressed the relevance of this event being held on the Island to address such a fundamental issue for Gran Canaria, given that more than 35% of its Gross Domestic Product comes from tourism and that more than 40% of direct jobs are linked to tourism activity, and considered it “a unique opportunity to learn about and debate the state of the tourism sector in the mountainous territories with the help of political, public and private representatives of the national panorama.”

 

He also emphasized the relevance of choosing the municipality of Tejeda as the setting for the conference, since it is symbolic for the history of Gran Canaria tourism and, in his opinion, it will allow those invited to understand the phenomenon at a glance. of tourist activity in mountain municipalities, in the unique case of an Island whose tourist history goes back a century and a half.

 

“I am talking about a territory with a population of 865.000 inhabitants, which has 170.000 tourist places, of which 60% are non-hotel places,” he described. “The result of this activity is the number of four million tourists in 2019. And they are overwhelming figures, because tourism is the main economic activity on the island, but distributed unevenly, given that Tejeda, even though it is one of the municipalities "Mountain accommodation with the most offer in Gran Canaria, has 451 accommodation places, which represents 0,26% of the total offer on the Island." 

 

The island president also alluded to the difficulties and fragility that characterize these territories, fruits of the gradual abandonment and aging of their population, in a phenomenon that accelerated with the appearance of sun and beach tourism, and which gave rise to The vegetation will occupy those lands. “The beauty of nature, which recovers its space, also increases the increased risk of fires and the disappearance of ethnographic elements of a centuries-old culture that is being lost. That is why this meeting is so important, a place to share experiences and compare the effectiveness of the plans and initiatives aimed at correcting this situation,” he stated.

 

In this sense, he highlighted that the Gran Canaria Cabildo has opted for the improvement of infrastructure in the summits and mountain areas, given that it is the farmer, the shepherd and the resident who make the firebreaks and the immediate action to put out possible. the attempts. Thus, the insular Corporation has built a network of dams, roads, prevention and extinction equipment, recreational areas, viewpoints, archaeological parks, among others, and has promoted activities that invite the population to visit, enjoy and to become aware and aware of the importance of this scarce and fragile territory.

 

“But, above all, we have implemented plans to maintain and care for our forests, with island financing such as 'The Summit Lives', 'Firefighter Sheep' herders, employment plans to clear the ravines of weeds and technology to surveillance service, such as 'Alertagran'. or for water management, with 'Acuagran',” he listed. “These and many other activities are intended to prepare us for the risks of extreme atmospheric phenomena that climate change will bring,” he said.

 

In this context, he highlighted that Gran Canaria is the first Island to have an 'Island Strategy for adaptation to climate change and promotion of the low-carbon economy', and that it will be the first island territory that will have a model energy without fossil fuels that, in addition, will allow the dams at the summit to be filled, which will serve as a new tourist attraction, “because we can change the course of history and Gran Canaria will fulfill its commitment to the community and the planet ”, he concluded.