When will there be a sports resort in the south of Gran Canaria?

 

It is not lost on anyone that sport is becoming the goose that lays the golden eggs for tourism in Gran Canaria; well, perhaps only on the businessmen in the sector who are not surprised that the island is the only province with a sports resort in good condition that meets the demands of international sportsmen who do not only come to Gran Canaria with the idea of ​​relaxing.

 

In recent months, the archipelago has changed from being a place of rest for athletes to a place of preparation and, in many cases, to hosting the competition itself, whether it be cycling events, basketball tournaments or the next World Cup in 2030, which Gran Canaria will host.

 

If we look for a sports resort in Gran Canaria, the first two options that appear in the main search engines are the Seaside Sandy Beach and the Servatur Monte Feliz, two accommodations that, although they have sports facilities on their premises, are not comparable to the Club La Santa in Lanzarote or the Playitas Resort in Fuerteventura, which have a football field (with official measurements), an athletics track, various tennis courts and an Olympic swimming pool.

 

By the way, the Playitas company is present in Gran Canaria precisely in Servatur Monte Feliz, an accommodation to which it has equipped various sports infrastructures such as an artificial turf football pitch, a gym, a crossfit box and a paddle tennis court.

 

Furthermore, in the midst of a fight with anti-tourism groups over so-called “quality tourism”, the sector is missing out on elite athletes who, apart from spending money in Gran Canaria on organised trips with teams of dozens of people (coaches, technicians, physiotherapists, dieticians, etc.), are mass idols who can function as an even better draw than those influencers who are now so fashionable among the marketing departments of hotel chains.

 

Without going any further, the Formula 1 driver from the Mercedes team (champions of the constructors' championship 8 times in the last 11 years) is a regular at the Club La Santa in Lanzarote, where in addition to training in the facilities to prepare for the demanding seasons of a top-class driver, he is often seen cycling during his stay. A stay at the sports resort that Fernando Alonso also enjoyed during his time as a driver for Ferrari. If the Canary Islands have the fame, why doesn't Gran Canaria have the facilities?

 

The climate and topography of the archipelago are a draw not only for those athletes who want to rest, but also for those who are looking to push themselves to the limit in order to prepare for top-level international sports competitions, which is why they do not see the luxury accommodation options and absolute tranquility in the south of Gran Canaria as their ideal option. Among athletes, the usual trend is usually between two diametrically opposed options when looking for challenges and "uncomfortable" situations to prepare physically: the extreme cold and the physical demands of sports such as skiing or the heat and slopes to push the body to the limit during cycling or trail running.

 

 

 

To give two current examples, the recent Australian Open champion and world number 1, tennis player Jannik Sinner, went to Dubai to prepare for the high temperatures and demanding conditions he would encounter during the tournament; while Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz are preparing for the Formula 1 season that begins in just over a month in Val Gardena and the French Alps by skiing.

 

Why can't Gran Canaria become the go-to destination for European athletes so that they don't have to flee the continent when they're looking for the perfect combination of climate and sports facilities?

 

And not just individual athletes, the famous pre-season camps for football teams in Marbella are the usual theme at the start of the European football calendar among the main clubs, including UD Las Palmas.

 

What better image for promoting sport as a tourist attraction than to give your home team (whose shirt promotes the island's tourism brand) cutting-edge facilities in the archipelago's tourist engine so that it doesn't have to go to the peninsula to prepare part of the preseason? (already a rival destination, to make matters worse)

 

Given these figures, it is almost incomprehensible that there is no project underway to provide the south with specialized accommodation that, at the very least, can compete with those found in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

 

It may be too late when some foreign company wants to build a sports resort in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the 2030 World Cup and then exploit that accommodation for the sporting activities held in the new Gran Canaria Stadium.