The federation of businessmen recalls the objective damage that the invasion of tourist complexes by illegal residential use represents for the maintenance of employment and tax revenues
The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs (FEHT) of Las Palmas has warned today about the “notorious and obvious” risks for economic activity and the general interest of the Canary Islands that the processes of residentialization of tourist properties and the blowing up of the principle entail. legal exploitation unit. And he has made it clear that from the point of view of public administrations, any legislative decision that harms the tourism sector of the Islands through tolerance of residentialization "is the worst possible housing policy", to the extent that Activity in the sector is the guarantee for the maintenance of jobs, economic activity and tax revenues of the public administrations of the Islands, which in turn finance public social policies, including housing policies.
The FEHT, like its federated entity, the Association of Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas (AEAT), supports all public initiatives for the construction of housing and clearly advocates for their execution as quickly as possible, also benefiting the general interest of the Canary Islands. . For this reason, both associations recall that replacing the development of new planned residential areas with the invasion of the space designated for tourist activity, by far the main industry of the Canary Islands, would clearly be counterproductive by harming the economy of the Islands without solving any problem. . The AEAT has called a meeting of its board of directors for next Monday in order to evaluate the current situation and reiterate the message of unity of tourism businesses around this issue.
For tourism entrepreneurs, it has already become clear that residentialization poses notable damage to tourism, something that has been accredited by studies such as the one carried out by the Institute of Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development (Tides) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), which has estimated the loss of income in the activity caused by the residentialization process in tourist complexes in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana alone at 591 million euros annually (in conservative estimates).
The FEHT recalls that the current sectoral regulation contemplates an exceptional situation, articulated through the Canary Islands Land Law, which allows residential use for those situations consolidated before January 1, 2017. But the same autonomous rule is categorical regarding the possible generalization of this practice, due to the harmful consequences for the activity of tourist complexes.
Therefore, any attempt to blow up the principle of unity of exploitation via reform of the tourism sector legislation represents a very serious precedent capable of causing irreparable damage to tourist complexes and employment in the Archipelago. The FEHT considers, in this sense, that proposals of this nature urged by owners of tourist apartments in defense of their exclusive private interest confuse legitimate and mutually compatible objectives, such as housing needs and the maintenance of economic activity, to the detriment of the general interest and collective prosperity.
Tourism businessmen remember the existing agreement between the economic and social agents of the Canary Islands on this matter, since the rejection of tourist residentialization has been explicitly expressed by the majority unions in the sector, Workers' Commissions (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), and by business associations such as the FEHT, which will continue to defend all measures that contribute to the maintenance of economic activity in tourist municipalities, for its commitment to the collective progress of the Canary Islands, with a desire for dialogue, coherence and respect for the law. For this reason, it reminds the political groups represented in the Parliament of the Canary Islands of the importance of this matter and the objective damage that any decision that protects the blowing up of the principle of unity of exploitation in properties of a tourist nature would entail.
