Hotel owners seek massive €100million investment as holiday bookings down 25 percent

HOTEL and tourism business owners in Spain’s Canary Islands are calling for a whopping  €100million government investment ‘to make the destination more competitive’ and stop holidaymakers flocking to other destinations.

Jose Maria Mañaricua, President of the Federation of Hotel and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas claims that tourist bookings for Gran Canaria this summer are already 25 per cent down on 2017.

And he said bookings for Tenerife are down by 22 per cent.

The federation boss has urged the Canary Islands government not to introduce a tourist tax, cap tourism numbers or raise airport taxes which have previously been tabled.

He said, “Both the state and the Canary Islands government must invest in tourism infrastructure.

“Without tourism, Spain would not be coming out of this terrible crisis.”

Jose said, “It will be more difficult to compete so we need more support for air connectivity and no increase in airport taxes.

“We ask the Popular Party not to implement a tourist tax when you see that the islands are beginning to lose visitors.”

He said, “It is absurd to talk about limiting the number of tourists when figures are falling. We must tell the people the reality and the truth.”

“We must fight for better air connectivity, to renew public and private infrastructures and to continue working to make the Canary Islands a leading destination for the future.”