The tourism entrepreneurs of the Canary Islands, grouped in the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas (FEHT); the Hotel and Non-Hotel Association of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro Ashotel; the Association of Tourism Entrepreneurs of Fuerteventura (Asofuer) and the Lanzarote Tourism Federation (FTL), have expressed today their concern about the consequences it will bring to the Canary Islands the entry into force of the new regulatory framework on payment of emission rights for flights in European airspace, which will begin to be applied at the beginning of 2024 and will take full effect in 2026. This scenario is defined by tourism businessmen as “very detrimental to the Archipelago and, in particular, to competitiveness.” of its tourism sector”, to the extent that it does not exclude from the payment of said costs flights between airports in the European Union (plus the United Kingdom and Switzerland) and the Canary Islands.
Tourism employers remind that the application of this measure will clearly harm a strategic sector of the Islands' economy, by making air travel from the main source markets to the Canary Islands more expensive. For this reason, they urge us to negotiate the application in this case of the same measure that has been approved for inter-island flights and transfers between the rest of Spain and the Canary Islands, for a simple matter of equity and social justice. As an example, they recall the adoption of multiple recent exceptional measures adopted in defense of strategic sectors of the economy of EU member countries, such as decisions to contain the price of hydrocarbons necessary for the competitiveness of the industry in a context of rising raw material prices.
For tourism entrepreneurs, the general philosophy that supports the application of payment for greenhouse gas emission rights is a concept that the Canary Islands tourism sector supports and supports, but it must also incorporate corrective measures that make it possible a just transition in the use of fossil fuels. "The case of the Archipelago is a very clear example in this regard, for a double reason: because of its outermost condition and because of the relevance of the tourism sector in its economic model, an essential factor for its present and future collective prosperity," the employers' associations point out, emphasizing that the entry into force of the framework approved two weeks ago by the EU trilogue (European Council, European Commission and European Parliament) “could only be defined as a negotiating failure for the Canary Islands”, for not including an exemption in the payment of duties for all flights between European airspace and the Islands. “That and no other is the necessary measure for the Canary Islands and the one that must be included in the final wording of the standard,” assure the hotel employers of the Islands.
Furthermore, the alternatives proposed by European negotiators for exemption from payment of emission rights on flights are “insufficient and incomplete”, they consider. The Canarian tourism sector contemplates with hope the progressive implementation of sustainable fuels in commercial aviation, in the case of bifuel and synthetic fuel, but at the same time it considers it unfeasible to link the exemption in the payment of emission rights with the use of some products that are scarce in the aviation fuel market, the implementation of which also entails technical inconveniences noted by companies in the aeronautical sector. “It is simply not sensible to condition the exemption of flights to the Canary Islands to the use of a product that may not be available on the market, for a basic question of efficiency and equity,” tourism businessmen emphasize on this option, which in no way It is comparable to the measure requested by the Canary Islands in this negotiation, and which is none other than the total exemption.
On the other hand, tourism employers understand and support the negotiating effort carried out by the Canarian representatives in the EU institutions and the active and vigilant position shown by the Government of the Canary Islands during this decisive process for the competitiveness of the tourism sector of the Islands in the near future. However, at the same time, they regret the absence of the necessary firmness in the position of the Government of Spain regarding this matter, as guarantor of the general interest of the outermost regions (OR) of the European Union, among which The Canary Islands are the most relevant from a demographic and economic point of view.. And all this, remembering that a sudden increase in the price of flights could have dramatic consequences for the Archipelago on an economic and social level, a risk that must be avoided at all costs if we truly want to defend the economic viability of a territory. Spanish and European with more than two million inhabitants.
For this reason, and in order to safeguard the future economic viability of the Islands, tourism entrepreneurs insist on the adoption of sufficient measures to guarantee that flights to the Archipelago will not suffer an imminent increase in prices.
