SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Canary Islands tourism entrepreneurs, grouped in the FEHT, Ashotel, Asofuer and FTL, have expressed their concern about the consequences that the entry into force of the new regulatory framework on the payment of emission rights for flights in space will bring to the Islands European air transport, which will begin to be applied at the beginning of 2024 and will take full force in 2026.
Said scenario is defined by tourism businessmen as “very detrimental to the Archipelago and, in particular, to the competitiveness of its tourism sector”, to the extent that it does not exclude flights between airports in the Union from paying said costs. Europe (plus the United Kingdom and Switzerland) and the Canary Islands.
The tourist employers warn that the application of this measure “will mean clear damage to a strategic sector of the economy of the Islands, by making air travel from the main source markets to the Canary Islands more expensive.”
For this reason, they urge to negotiate the application in this case of the same measure that has been approved for inter-island flights and transfers between the rest of Spain and the Canary Islands, for “a simple matter of equity and social justice.”
As an example, they recall the adoption of multiple recent exceptional measures adopted in defense of strategic sectors of the economy of EU member countries, such as decisions to contain the price of hydrocarbons necessary for the competitiveness of the industry in a context of increase in the cost of raw materials.
For tourism entrepreneurs, the general philosophy that supports the application of payment for greenhouse gas emission rights is a concept that the tourism sector of the Canary Islands supports and supports, but they consider that it must also incorporate corrective measures that make possible a just transition in the use of fossil fuels.
“The case of the Archipelago is a very clear example in this regard, for a double reason: because of its outermost condition and because of the relevance of the tourism sector in its economic model, an essential factor for its present and future collective prosperity,” the employers point out, emphasizing that the entry into force of the framework approved two weeks ago by the EU trialogue (European Council, European Commission and European Parliament) “could only be defined as a negotiating failure for the Canary Islands”, for not including an exemption in the payment of rights for all flights between European airspace and the Islands.
“That and no other is the necessary measure for the Canary Islands and the one that must be included in the final wording of the standard,” say the hotel management of the Islands.
On the other hand, they consider that the alternatives proposed by the European negotiators for the exemption in the payment of emission rights on flights are “insufficient and incomplete”.
The Canarian tourism sector hopefully contemplates the progressive implementation of sustainable fuels in commercial aviation, in the case of bi-fuel and synthetic fuel, but at the same time it sees it unfeasible to link right now the exemption in the payment of emission rights with the use of certain products scarce in the aviation fuel market, the implementation of which also contains drawbacks of a technical nature noted by companies in the aeronautical sector.
“It is simply not sensible to make the exemption of flights to the Canary Islands conditional on the use of a product that may not be available on the market, due to a basic question of efficiency and equity”, the tourism businessmen underline this option, which “in some is comparable to the measure requested by the Canary Islands in this negotiation, and which is none other than the total exemption”, they add.
On the other hand, the tourism employers understand and support the negotiating effort made by the Canarian representatives in the EU institutions and the active and vigilant position shown by the Government of the Canary Islands during this decisive process for the competitiveness of the tourism sector of the Islands. in the near future.
However, at the same time, they regret the absence of the necessary firmness in the position of the Government of Spain regarding this matter, as guarantor of the general interest of the outermost regions (OR) of the European Union, among which the Canary Islands is the most relevant from the demographic and economic point of view.
And all this, remembering that a sudden increase in the price of flights could have dramatic consequences for the Archipelago in the economic and social spheres, a risk that must be avoided at all costs if you really want to defend the economic viability of a territory Spanish and European with more than two million inhabitants.
For this reason, and in order to safeguard the future economic viability of the Islands, tourism businessmen insist on the adoption of sufficient measures to guarantee that flights to the Archipelago will not suffer an imminent increase in cost.
