SAN SEBASTIAN DE LA GOMERA, Jan. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The spokesman for the Gomera Socialist Group Parliamentary Group (ASG), Casimiro Curbelo, has asked the Government of Spain to implement specific measures to support tourism such as improving connectivity, so that it is the instrument to favor the economic recovery of the Canary Islands. .
“The Canary Islands are one of the communities hardest hit by the economic consequences of the pandemic, which has notably affected the main economic sector, that is, tourism,” the Gomeran said in a statement.
Curbelo added that these effects caused the 18.1% drop in GDP, from 47,483.5 million euros in 2019 to 39,162.6 million in 2020.
In addition, he pointed out that the unemployment figures in the Canary Islands reached 283,477 people in February 2021, and the zero tourism caused by mobility restrictions left more than 150,000 Canarians in ERTE during the hardest months of the pandemic.
For his part, the deputy made special emphasis that in this context, “the recovery in the archipelago has been delayed for various reasons, among which is the significant dependence on tourism and, therefore, the measures that are taken in issuing countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom; the appearance of new variants of the virus such as Delta and Ómicron, and the weakness of the productive fabric of the Islands, highly linked to tourism and the service sector, which is combined with structural deficits with rates unemployment above 22%.
For Curbelo, the competent administrations, especially the State, must promote various measures to encourage tourism recovery.
“State bonuses linked to connectivity with the Canary Islands must be implemented, beyond the current plans that the community itself has in place, in such a way that they serve as mechanisms to compensate for the competitive disadvantage that the Archipelago has due to its remoteness from the territory. continent, one of the handicaps being the increase in fuel prices,” he pointed out.
Likewise, he proposed to continue advancing in the reduction of airport taxes during this year, to boost the establishment of new routes and the restoration of losses due to the pandemic.
Regarding the economic recovery, he put on the table different actions, such as the extension of the terms for the payments of the ICO credits beyond the next month of April, “since in the Canary Islands alone about 28,000 small and medium-sized companies are in this situation”.
Finally, he highlighted the importance of expanding the ERTE – whose validity ends in February – in the tourism sector, “since it still suffers from the consequences of the pandemic.”
