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Lanzarote entrepreneurs ask to speed up public procurement
The Lanzarote Business Confederation (CEL) asks the Island Council and the Canary Islands Government to expedite the procedures for the execution of pending works on the Island, in order to generate employment and contribute to the reactivation of construction, one of the sectors most affected by the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. They are not the only ones, in fact this request joins the one already made by the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce in the same sense.
In this sense, the president of the CEL, Francisco Martínez, remarks that last year construction accounted for 4.5% fewer companies with respect to 2019 and considers that the current moment of tourist stoppage “is ideal for public administrations to undertake the planned works, without causing inconvenience to visitors ”.
This is one of the measures that the president transferred to the president of the Lanzarote Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo, in a working meeting held recently and in which they also asked to reduce the tax burden of SMEs and the self-employed.
“The vast majority of the self-employed and SMEs have seen their income diminished during the last year due to the pandemic and the current fiscal pressure only increases their agony,” says the president of the CEL.
Franciso Martínez emphasizes the damage that the pandemic has done to the island’s business fabric and recalls that in 2020 459 companies disappeared, and 9% fewer businesses were launched than in 2019. “The sector that suffered the most was the of the hospitality industry, which lost 10% of its companies after a year with hardly any tourist activity, which is why we consider the support of public administrations essential ”, emphasizes Martínez.
The president of the Confederation also insists on the need for the Government of the Canary Islands to demand from Spain an increase in direct aid aimed at the business sector of the islands, which has suffered with greater virulence the economic consequences of the pandemic as a result of its greater dependence on tourism.
Lanzarote, a safe tourist destination
For Francisco Martínez, it is also a priority to carry out a tighter control of health security measures and establish a vaccination plan in order to lower the alert level for COVID-19 as soon as possible and regain the confidence of tourists in Lanzarote as a safe destination .
“Recovering the confidence of the main source markets of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands is essential to successfully face the next tourist seasons and the most effective way to do so is by ensuring that health security measures are complied with. Without this, any of the aid provided by public institutions will be insufficient ”, emphasizes the president.
