T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 672
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W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
01 October 2010 - 07 October 2010
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Excellence will overcome crisis Quality counts - Cabildo asks for ‘effort’ to increase tourism quality.
FIRST Vice-President and Minister of Tourism of the Cabildo of Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, last week made an appeal to the business sector to “make best efforts” in order to maintain the quality of service of the destination despite the drop in profitability.
Also during the inaugural speech of the VI Congreso de Turismo de Tenerife he reiterated that the improvement is not just investment, but rather by the “culture detail”, while adding that the efforts, although begin to take the first positive data, “still not enough.” Although the figures given by the President of the Cabildo, Ricardo Melchior, showed some improvement in the sector, with data such as the recovery of more than 80,000 customers and
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increased air capacity at 569,000 seats to the island, 11% more than in 2009, Bermúdez was quoted as saying, a more restrained: “The market and the competitors have no pity nor forgive the mistakes we make.” Melchior said that Tenerife is currently on a “tipping point” that “will lead to recovery” after noting the creation of 600,000 new airline seats this winter, which will involve a total of 1,200 aircraft landing in Tenerife airports compared to the
previous year. These signs of recovery are the result, according to the vice president of the Cabildo insular, that this crisis has forced us to do a real check on the foundations that underpin the island’s economy and tourism “while reminding employers and employees of the need to avoid “short-termism” of the situation. Nevertheless, Bermúdez recalled that the island has “all the conditions for success” with its large range of natural areas, theme parks, five star hotels and restaurants, among others. In this vein, the Congreso, titled Case Studies and best practices in tourism, awarding two businesses that have led to increased tourism on the island - the
president of Globalia, Juan Jose Hidalgo, Air Europa and TravelPlan, and the owner of the Expo-Group, Antonio Mestre, creator of one of the first five-star resorts in the South. These awards were joined by a special tribute to the eleven centers of the island tourism initiatives for contributing “historic and ongoing.” Excessive bureaucracy During his brief speech after receiving the award, Hidalgo lamented about the excessive bureaucracy that exists today, in his opinion, must be removed to facilitate the departure of the economic crisis. The Globalia President said that in a situation where private enterprise has had a hard time it’s necessary to
“pave” the bureaucracy, adding that it must be more “practical.” Hidalgo, also expressed his disagreement with the bureaucracy that results in the fact that four administrations, sometimes contradict each other. The VI edition of this congreso also featured presentations by Tenerife Tourism manager, Alberto Bernabé, who presented management of tourism on the island, while the director of Design Innovation, Carmelo di Bartolo , addressed the current market trends. The meeting was closed with four short presentations aimed to publicise success stories in the sector and encourage excellence as an element to overcome the crisis.