The President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, held a meeting yesterday with the CEO of the TUI group, Sebastian Ebel, to plan the winter tourist season and establish strategies that guarantee the flow of tourists,
for which it is necessary to lower the current incidence rates of Covid-19 in the Islands, which are leading issuing countries to warn their citizens about this risk, or to advise against travelling to, the Archipelago at the moment.
Torres thanked the TUI director for travelling to Gran Canaria, and stressed that the Canary Islands are adopting “all the necessary measures and restrictions to reverse the current situation of Covid-19”, because he argued, “we have to try to make the contagion data more favourable.”
TUI foresees a demand of approximately three million people, which, discounting that of ski tourism, could be channelled to the Canary Islands. Customers prefer to travel in winter,
September and October will be difficult months, but November and December are expected to record a cumulative demand of five million tourists.
The regional President once again stressed the importance of citizen collaboration for the extreme application of anti-Covid regulations, and made another call for the responsibility of Canarian society in that same aspect. This is “key to reducing contagion levels,” he said.
Torres acknowledged that “now we are risking being a safe destination” and that the greatest effort must be made, “to reverse the current health situation as soon as possible.”
In addition, he stressed how vital it is to guarantee the safety of travellers, also back to their own country, as pointed out by TUI, and considered that for this it is essential to carry out PCR tests at origin and destination, something that they have demanded several times.
This is the fourth meeting of the Government with the largest tour operator in the world since the crisis began, with the aim of working on the recovery of tourism in the Islands.
This is especially relevant in the face of the winter season, which starts in November, and in which the Canary Islands are configured as the only viable sun and beach destination to meet European demand, taking into account that long-distance options will be ruled out.
This was confirmed by the executive responsible for the contracting of Hotels & Resorts, Cruises, and Destination Experiences for TUI, who, accompanied by the head of Institutional Relations of the TUI group,
Antonia Bouka, and the director of the group in the Canary Islands, Linda Phelps, saw first-hand the measures being taken to contain the recent outbreaks of the pandemic and plan strategies.
Ebel proposed the involvement of TUI group in the realization of constant promotion campaigns of the Canary Islands as a safe destination: “We need the regional incidence numbers to drop so that the legal framework accompanies us.”
Yaiza Castilla attributed the status that the Canary Islands have earned as a safe and reliable destination, to the continuous and permanent communication that has been maintained with potential clients since the beginning of the pandemic: “
This commitment to safety and tranquility has been reinforced with the launch of a travel assistance insurance policy.”