After offering Santa Cruz de Tenerife to the Government of the Canary Islands, last May, to house the headquarters of the future European Agency for Tourism, the capital is now going a step further by also offering municipal land for its location free of charge, specifically the Cabo Llanos hotel plot. “This is the area of expansion of the city, a plot of land at the entrance to Santa Cruz and where the Isla del Mar terrace is currently located,” the councilor for the Treasury, Juan José Martínez, confirmed yesterday to DIARIO DE AVISOS.
“We offer the European Commission (EC) and a location with the best urban conditions, more than 30,000 square meters, which is more than what this project will require. European Tourism Agency, with which there is enough space for other building facilities. And it would be the first European agency located in an RUP, perfectly connected to the two airports and in the administrative and commercial area par excellence of the city”, highlighted the mayor.
In addition, he went on to explain that the capital has other differentiating factors, with respect to other possible candidates, such as “a series of support infrastructures that other locations do not have, such as the Fairgrounds to organize any type of meeting or event, or the Auditorium, and a sufficient hotel offer. And an agency focused on sustainable tourism is requested and there we have the Anaga World Biosphere Reserve, in addition to different types of tourist offers”.
Likewise, he also recalled that Tenerife has “a diversified tourism, with world heritage sites, a world tourism leadership and we have more than 50 air connections with the rest of the world, in addition to data connectivity with technological infrastructures”. For all these reasons, he stated that “we understand that Santa Cruz’s candidacy is a very viable proposal and that it meets the requirements.”
Regarding the interest that the Government of the Canary Islands seems to have in acquiring the plot that is going to be offered to the EC, Martínez indicated that the obligation of the City Council “is to get the maximum return on our assets and manage to be the headquarters of an agency of this guy has enormous value for the city”.
In this sense, he gave Alicante as an example, which houses the European Intellectual Property Office, which has meant 1,000 direct jobs and some 2,000 indirect jobs and generates an impact of 400 million in the city per year. “With which it would have a much greater impact than any of the other alternatives that have been considered for this site, such as the location of the Canary Islands Government Dependencies,” he pointed out. In addition, “with this agency we would have an undoubted international projection and a generation of quality employment.”
For his part, the mayor of the capital, José Manuel Bermúdez, stated that Santa Cruz’s candidacy to house this facility “is well founded. On the one hand, because Santa Cruz is the tourist capital of a tourist island, but mainly because in our municipality there are the main representations of island, regional and state administrations, as well as the most important companies that operate in Tenerife and the Canary Islands and have a international port, of the first order in the Atlantic, and just a few kilometers away, an international airport”.
“From the City Council, which has already approved this candidacy in plenary session, we are going to do everything possible so that the European Tourism Agency has its headquarters in the capital”, emphasized the mayor.
For this reason, Martínez indicated that “we are going to send a letter with this candidacy, and requesting their support and adhesion, to the Cabildo, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Parliament, the State Government, the Presidency of the Government and the European Commission.” And, on the other hand, “we are also going to initiate an internal process in the city with the main social and economic agents requesting their adhesion to this project, because we want it to be a project that the city assumes,” added the mayor.
