The general secretary of the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) in the Canary Islands, Inocencio González, has asked this Tuesday that the tourism macro-project be stopped Cradle of the Soulin the Port of Adejein Tenerifeand that it is committed to rehabilitation to attract higher quality tourism, which does not have to imply a loss of employment in the sector.
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Inocencio González commented at a press conference that after meeting with groups that are against Cuna del Alma and with representatives of the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Adeje City Council from the union they have unanimously decided to position themselves against this macroproject, which aims to develop more than 400,000 square meters of land with hotels and 420 luxury villas in a ravine and a beach in Puertito de Adeje. The area is right next to a Site of Scientific Interest (SIC) and a maritime Special Conservation Area (ZEC), in addition to having different archaeological sites, one of them already destroyed by project works.
“The Canary Islands cannot continue to allow tourism development based on the number of tourists, we must give value to preserving biodiversity”, he stated, while he opined that the islands should not compete with other destinations in continuing to attract 16 million tourists per year.
In his opinion, the Canary Islands are an insular, fragile and vulnerable territory in which it makes no sense to insist on tourism development based on the expansion of places that leave an important ecological impact and footprint.
For this reason, he has advocated increasing the added value of tourism, which is the engine for the economy of the Canary Islands, but which has to be rethought in order to specialize it and provide it with excellence.
In this context, he stated that hotel facilities do not need to be expanded, but rather to transform them and make them more sustainable, for which tourism rehabilitation is “essential”.
Likewise, he has insisted that changing to a higher quality model does not have to have a direct impact on the work generated by the tourism sector.
The secretary of sustainability and occupational health of the CCOO, Carmen Marrero, has shown her total rejection of Cuna del Alma, as it is an outdated project from more than 30 years ago that has nothing to do with today’s tourists, with environmental awareness.
Low quality employment
Marrero has shown his astonishment that the Canary Islands continue to compete with sun and beach tourism when 47% of the territory has some type of protection.
In addition, he recalled that tourism generates 36% of the Canary Islands’ GDP and around 40% of the work on the islands, although he regretted that it does not lead to quality employment, since the archipelago is among the communities with higher poverty rate.
Marrero has criticized that the Government of the Canary Islands, which declared a climate emergency, now authorizes macro-projects, such as Cuna del Alma, which endanger biodiversity and cultural property.
It has opted for the diversification of tourism together with the economy so that the Canary Islands are not at the expense of other destinations or tour operators.
In his opinion, a more specialized tourism must be promoted that values biodiversity instead of competing with other sun and beach destinations and attracting travelers who do not care about going to the Canary Islands or Tunisia.
Thus, it has opted for conscientious tourism, in smaller numbers and of higher quality, with longer stays, so that the carbon footprint is smaller, such as nomadic workers or senior tourism.
The general secretary of the Insular Union of Tenerife of the CCOO Canarias, Andrés Baute, has demanded that the PSOE, the party that governs the Executive, the Cabildo and the Adeje City Council, manifest itself in what it proposes in the future.
He has asked for consistency from this party, which is supposed to defend an agenda of sustainability, while at the same time demanding that Cuna del Alma be stopped and that the sustainable development of the island be studied.
In addition, Baute has denounced the attacks in Cuna del Alma against those who defend the environmental future of Tenerife.
