The businessmen express their rejection of the provisional ordinance of San Bartolomé de Tirajana which, in contradiction with Canarian legislation, promotes the expansion of residential use in tourist properties and puts thousands of jobs at risk
The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas (FEHT), and its federated Association of Tourist Accommodation Entrepreneurs (AEAT), have recalled that the generalization of residential use in tourist properties in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, promoted by the City Council of said municipality through a provisional ordinance initially approved in plenary session, will be detrimental not only to the non-hotel activities carried out in the tourist area of the municipality, but also to employment, the quality of the offer, the image of the Gran Canaria destination and the general interest of the island.
In this regard, the tourism industry has highlighted that independent academic studies carried out by the Institute of Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development (Tides) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) have estimated 591 million euros annually (in conservative estimates ) the decrease in income in economic activity caused by the residentialization process in tourist complexes only in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. This economic damage has harmed the Canarian families who own accommodation units who have been adapting and complying with the multitude of laws and regulations that regulate the sector for more than fifty years, guaranteeing the quality of the service and the competitiveness of the destination. And this fact clearly shows the very high social cost derived from residentialization, now promoted by a provisional ordinance that declares total compatibility between tourist and residential uses.
The FEHT insists on the need to defend economic activity and jobs as an unequivocal exponent of the general interest of the island and the tourist areas of Gran Canaria. In this regard, the employers' association emphasizes that the ULPGC report estimates the loss of annual revenue for public administrations at 83 million euros caused by residential uses in tourist apartments in the same municipality, with a cost of 12.433 jobs. in said area. This constitutes an objective damage to the general interest.
Furthermore, the position supported by the provisional ordinance is contradictory with the regional legislation on tourism currently in force in the Canary Islands, which defends the specialization of uses as an unequivocal strategy to consolidate the quality of the tourist destination, the image of the offer and the general interest of the municipality. and the island, as has also been pointed out by the current officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, who promote a process of specialization of uses, and not the chaotic situation that will promote widespread residentialization in properties dedicated to tourist use. . At the same time, ordinances such as the one initially approved in San Bartolomé de Tirajana represent an attack on the principle of unity of operation in tourist properties, fundamental for the development of non-hotel activity and which in no case requires the transfer of property to a third party for carry out tourist activity, since the owners can carry it out cooperatively in each complex.
For the employers' association, the path to defending the general interest in cases like that of San Bartolomé de Tirajana involves “continuing on the path of professionalization and specialization” in activities related to tourism and the use of real estate in particular, an objective that is “incompatible with the expansion of residential use” in said farms. The FEHT has made it clear that in view of the facts and data there is no doubt about the collective benefits of the tourist use of complexes built for this purpose, recalling that the Tides study highlights that each accommodation place in the Canary Islands represents 31.125 euros of average income in the economy of the Islands, as well as 4.363 euros of tax revenue for the Administration. And, above all, the FEHT insists on the risk that residentialization processes pose for employment, because every two accommodation places represent the generation of 1,3 jobs in the Archipelago.
The tourism employers' association, which has had the support of the sector's unions in this matter, will continue to advocate for the harmonious development of activity in tourist areas, to the extent that the impact of tourist activity is 15 times greater than that It assumes residential use, according to the study prepared by the University. For this reason, the FEHT and the AEAT express their firm position against any measure that contributes to extending the phenomenon of residentialization, in defense of legality, of the quality of the destination in a competitive market. Likewise, the legal services of the FEHT are studying the appropriate actions regarding possible responsibilities that may arise from this measure that is incompatible with the general interest of the Islands.
