- Quote: ‘Thousands of companies and freelancers are heading for closure. Thousands of Canarians are doomed to suffer more poverty and precariousness – that has only just begun – the worst is yet to come’.
By Andrew Atkinson
Germany’s recommendation not to travel to the Canary Islands, which could be cancelled at the end of this week (w/c October 19) – if the Canary Islands keep their infection rate down – has seen TUI flight occupancy below 20%.
Despite the Germans ‘desire and demand’ to travel to the Canary Islands and have connectivity, the risked initiative of TUI, which resumed operations on October 3 with the islands, in defiance of the German government, tourists continue to be discouraged.
Two weeks after TUI returned to operating between Germany and the Canary Islands, the flights continue with very low occupancies – below 20%.
TUI plans to maintain the flights, hoping in the coming week the German Government may lift the restrictions on the Canary Islands, whose epidemiological data are within the ratios that the German Robert Koch Institute, considered optimal for not being considered a risk area.
Germany lifts travel restrictions on countries or regions with a level of infection, lower than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
COVID-19
On October 16, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) released the first European map of Covid-19 and the Canary Islands appeared in red, based on data from previous days.
In the next update, if the favourable evolution continues, it is expected that the islands will appear in orange – and that Germany will remove the Canary Islands from its black list.
Quarantine
If so, German passengers who return to their country will be exempted from the quarantine – that stops most tourists from travelling.
Spain-UK
Sources indicate that it is expected that there will also be news, regarding the tourist corridors that the Government of Spain is negotiating with different destinations, such as the United Kingdom.
The Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, acknowledged that Spain had arrived late to the negotiations, and the Associations of Businessmen demanded that ‘not one more minute’ be lost and that they act now.
Madrid
The president of the Canarian Vacation Rental Association (Ascav) and the Canary Islands Tourism Circle, Doris Borrego, in an open letter sent to the minister, reproaches her for the fact that from Madrid ‘nothing has been done for the tourism of the islands’.
Doomed
“Thousands of companies and freelancers are heading for closure. Thousands of Canarians are doomed to suffer more poverty and precariousness – that has only just begun – the worst is yet to come.
“The worst thing is that you from the Government know it,” he said.
Borrego invited Maroto to visit the tourist areas of the totally ‘desert’ islands and asks her to take action: “The islands will not endure this situation for more than a few weeks,” he said.
The winter tourist season commences on the Canary Islands in November.
