SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Ashotel, Jorge Marichal, has warned this Thursday that the lack of housing near the tourist municipalities makes it difficult for companies to hire workers, something that he has attributed to the lack of a powerful public housing policy and “lawlessness” and the “anything goes” that is practiced in the vacation rental subsector.
In a meeting with the media, he stressed the “serious problems” in the housing market because prices are not “affordable” and in the case of workers who live in the north and want to move to the south “it is complicated” due to mobility difficulties.
“It is becoming quite impossible to find a flat”, pointed out Marichal, who recalled the commitment of the Government of the Canary Islands to build up to 6,000 public homes by 2025 and the possibility that the municipalities put 10% of the uses on the market urban planning of the partial plans so that the entrepreneurs allocate the RIC to build housing.
“The emotional salary counts and people are not seduced by the inconvenience,” he stressed.
Regarding vacation rentals, he pointed out that they have to play “the same game” as hoteliers, who are placed “impediments” to their development while, for example, in apartment blocks, properties are already being torn off to put them on the market as vacation homes . “This is as far as we could go, they treat us as they shouldn’t,” he added.
Marichal has called for “order” in the tourism subsector because the hotel industry has created employment, wealth and added value, although he has not wanted to enter into the possibility of setting limits to demographic growth despite the fact that the Canary Islands have grown by 400,000 inhabitants in the last twenty years.
He has pointed out that the European Commission has already “pulled the ears” of the town halls and that is why work has begun on a planning decree while warning that, in the first person, he is the owner of apartment complexes and complies the law but “bodies get tired”.
For now, he has highlighted that ‘digital nomads’ “are not a problem” and are an interesting client for hotels and long-stay apartments and highlighted that purchases by foreign clients are also increasing as a result of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis.
INTRUSISM IN RURAL TOURISM
Gabriel Wolgeschaffen, Ashotel’s delegate in the metropolitan area, has criticized the “intrusion” of vacation rentals in rural tourism because “any space is suitable” to enjoy a tourist experience and also “compete on the same platforms.”
He has indicated that there are many “scams” against tourists and has assessed that the Fecam “is taking part” to face a “serious social problem” for which he hopes that the decree will be agreed and there will be a “sound and sensible understanding” .
Wolgeschaffen has questioned the employment figures provided by Ascav -30,000 jobs for 70,000 in hotels- and denies that they have a ratio of 1 job for every five beds.
Victoria López, vice president of Ashotel, has commented that there are road problems “that have not been resolved since 2010” and predicts that if nothing is done “there will be no decade after 2030”. “We are tired of waiting, we need adequate public transport because there are workers without mobility alternatives to get a job,” she added.
