Forum about Lanzarote

We all sit and moan about the cost of flights, we all sit and moan that the all inclusive hotels are killing our bars. Would you like to do more than moan and actually get off your arse and do something? Please take a minute or two of your time to make a difference.

British, Irish, Spanish, German, Dutch, Scandinavian - we are all in the same boat. We pay our taxes. We have the right to vote (which more of us should). Should we really let our elected representatives get away with letting tourism on this Island deteriorate any further?

I have set up an online petition that I intend to present to the Cabildo to let them know we will not stand for their apathy any longer. Please take the time to sign it [www.ipetitions.com] a few thousand names might actually make a difference – you never know!

If you want hard copies to put in your bar, restaurant or any other kind of business send an email to lanzarotelist@aol.com and I’ll send you something to print out. Enough is enough. This island depends on tourism. It needs something to happen, and it needs that to happen soon!

Count me in

Harry

ME too!!!

And me.

Keith.

Sorry to piss on the parade (so to speak) but hasn't money been poured in to (successfully ) encouraging Spanish tourists - isn't it only the 'foreigners' who have dropped - which may be a good thing! Who are you and what is your agenda?

C
x

I've signed. As someone who lives on the Island - I see the effects. We are lucky enough to not be immediately affected by tourism. However, it does have a secondary effect for us. If our clients don't earn (well, those here in Lanzarote anyway) then we don't earn. This is an issue that massively needs addressing... and I'm all for someone standing up and doing it.

Elle xx

Moan about the cost of flights???? Flights for our annual June / July visits have got cheaper every year for the last 5 or 6 years. We've booked for 2008 at approx £160 each return with Monarch. Jet2.con are doing even cheaper flights if you get in quick enough...
Our accomodation prices have remained fairly static over the last few years at around £200 - £250 per week for a 4 bed villa or bungalow.
Perhaps the bar / restaurant owners need to change their perspective. Why do we have to have the 'Brits abroad' attitude with wall to wall English breakfasts, pie & chips, HP sauce, Coronaton Street, Emmerdale, Big Brother, etc everywhere we go?

Simon H

Did you know that 'gullible' isn't in the dictionary?

You need to read your quote m8!

jet2.con - freudian slip Simon?

To the Original Poster ~~~ Please make yourself known. What nationality are you? what is your business? - and what is the bottom line here?


Yoy say "....to let them know we will not stand for their apathy any longer" Is there apathy? Remember - you are running a business in a spanish country - when in Rome & all that!! (I know thats in Italy but you get the idea!!)


Petitions are well & good but without knowing your real agenda I think I'll pass at the moment!





Cyfrin aka Dottie

Everywhere you go always take the weather with you - Crowded House
msn.groups.com/ExperienceLanzarote

There were no trees destroyed in sending this message.....but a few million electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

I have to say that I don't believe that tourism is dying on the island - it is, however, changing.
There has been a (small) reduction in the number of Brits coming here, and a larger one in the number of Germans and Scandinavians, but the slack has largely been taken up by new tourists from the Peninsular and from Ireland.
Apart from the reduced numbers of Brits, the type of people coming here from UK is also changing. The typical Brit coming here now is more affluent than in recent years, more likely to stay in a private villa or all inclusive hotel, and is more likely to hire a nice car and explore the island's culture and "hidden" gems. They are less likely to want to stay in the resorts and have UK style food and watch UK TV while drinking British beer.
For evidence look at the number of older complexes on the market - pople don't want to stay in basic accommodation any more. Also look at the type of hire cars we have now - Saab convertibles, BMW's and Mini Coopers. If you look to the Northern villages like Arrieta, Punta Mujeres and Haria, the bar and restaurant owners there are delighted at the number of tourists they see now compared to a few years ago, and they're seeing mainland Spanish, Brits and Irish.
Everything changes - 20 years ago the tourist market was totally dominated by the Germans, then they had reunifaction and that market collapsed and gradually all the German focussed bars and businesses either changed or disappeared. They were largely replaced by British focussed businesses, who enjoyed the boom years for their market. Now it's changing again - so far it looks like the future is the Spanish mainland market, if that proves to be correct we have to change our businesses accordingly

Mike, I hope you're right.

Sorry to piss on your parade part 2....

On my last 3 visits I have seen that the number of mainland spaniards visiting has increased no end - basically just backing up what has been said above.

Lanza needs a balanced mix of tourism - not just dependent upon anyone one group.

The government has no control over air fares - I don't think fares are unreasonable if you look at the numbers, distance travelled etc. (Don't give me the I can be in new york for £250 - try getting a flight to new york in Nov or December for under £500 which is the peak time for visiting etc) and compare prices over the last 20 years.

What actually are you proposing the cabildo to do?!!!

What i would like them to do would be to redevelop brown field sites - and stop all golf course development, green field (well black field in Lanza!!) development until all the cheaply built 70s 80s concrete crap like the whole of the PDC strip beyond the casino, most of Costa Teguise, commercial centre in PB have been knocked down! But too costly and not sexy enough to architects to do that.

I´ve signed...






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2007 01:08PM by Alan.

Please, before signing the petition, consider the possible reaction to the foreign community and ensure that it's not half cocked.
Reading the original post, it seems the two key points are:
1/ Flight prices from abroad are too high.
2/ All inclusive is killing our bars.
So what exactly does anyone think the Cabildo or Canarian government can do about these things? Should Rita Martin to a whistle stop tour of the MD's of Thomson, Monarch etc and say "Please reduce your prices"? Puleeeeze.
What about all inclusive? Should it be banned? That sounds like protectionism to me. How do you police it? What happens when a hotel stops offering all inclusive, but instead offers "Club" rooms, with free food and local drink? Maybe the next step is to ban bars from giving a free tapa with a beer, as that's unfair on those that don't. Then we can regulate the price of booze as well. Franco would have loved all that.
I'm all in favour and standing up an being counted, and trying to make things better. But, if a petition goes into the Cabildo demanding they do something about flight prices and ban all inclusive hotels, the whole foreign business community will look like a bunch of fools and it will have a negative effect on our standing for years. So please don't sign the petition until the originator actually tells you what the proposal is going to say.

My identity is not important. I live here, and as a taxpayer and resident have every right to question elected representatives. Should you choose to sign or not sign that is up to you. It is my wish to make a political point, That is my agenda, nothing more, nothing less.


cyfrin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To the Original Poster ~~~ Please make yourself
> known. What nationality are you? what is your
> business? - and what is the bottom line here?
>
>
> Yoy say "....to let them know we will not stand
> for their apathy any longer" Is there apathy?
> Remember - you are running a business in a spanish
> country - when in Rome & all that!! (I know
> thats in Italy but you get the idea!!)
>
>
> Petitions are well & good but without knowing
> your real agenda I think I'll pass at the moment!
>
>
>
>
>
> Cyfrin aka Dottie
>
> Everywhere you go always take the weather with you
> - Crowded House
> msn.groups.com/ExperienceLanzarote

I agree with everything Estupendo Mike has said.

You can question the elected reps as much as you like TP - but a petition is not the way to do it - imho!



Cyfrin aka Dottie

Everywhere you go always take the weather with you - Crowded House
msn.groups.com/ExperienceLanzarote

There were no trees destroyed in sending this message.....but a few million electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

Don't start me on airfares during the school holidays - grrrrrrr

I have heard that Arrecife has particularly high landing charges, but don't know how true that is, so that is one area that perhaps could be looked at. I do, though, generally agree with Mike (or is that miKE? ) Is there not a Spanish equivelant of the chamber of commerce or such like that you could all join and use as a lobbying forum?

The other thing is the Spanish tourist board - I regularly see their adverts in the papers, buut have never saw one for Lanza - what is their strategy IRO Lanza? Similarly, I read various newspapers, particularly at the weekend and the Sunday Mirror is the only paper I recall featuring Lanza in the last year or so. And there have been plenty features in the broadsheets dribbleing about the quality that you can find these days in Tenerife!!!

Just some randon thoughts.

C
x

£700.00 one way with Monarch in August and I paid £450.00.....sorry but someone is taking the piss and whatever anyone says it is cheaper to go to Turkey and Greece...£300.00 a ticket this August..so Lanza is going to suffer...I know quite a few friends who own places in lanzarote who are not coming over to their homes so often soley because of the airfares. I had some friends who wanted to come out to see me at half term with their children...but not doing so due to airfares.

I understand market forces etc etc, but Lanzarote is without doubt suffering at certain times due to the airfares.

Harry

Harry you are cherry picking air fares. No one in their right mind would ever pay £700 for a short haul flight.

And anyway majority of owners don't go in July/August!!! Its September-June - ie. 10 months out of 12 when you can get a flight for £150 or less.

Its a bit disingenuous (sp?!) to log on to expedia and cherry pick the highest fair you see and then have a bit of a rant.

Tourism Petition Person!

It is very important to know who or what the identity of this person is!!! Any GCSE student despite the dumbing down of exams will tell you the importance of sources!!!

The very fact that you believe it is unimportant makes me VERY SCEPTICAL!!!


A few facts....

1) Yes the English run bars are emptier than the past few years - prob due to AI and higher airfares - but the Island as a whole is heaving - due to Spanish domestic tourism - they just go to different places.

2) The Lanzarote government DOES NOT want to be flooded with low cost, low spending British and Irish tourists - and I think we all agree we do not want a return to the late 80s and 90s - the Lanzagrotty tag - which unfairly still remains.


So apologies to the others who have but I refuse to attach myself to someone who refuses to declare who they are or what their agenda is.

THere are proper channels for this - wasn't there an election earlier this year? Am sure as a resident you made your views - or did you refuse/forget to vote?

What about the ombudsman I've read so much about?

I and I would imagine others would be very interested to find out what other efforts you are making - you are aren't you? Any serious pressure group will have at the very least have written letters to all politicians on the island - as well as the Canarian and Spanish governments, the would have demonstrated outside the Cabildo building, created a website that sort of thing.

What about the british governments and the airlines? Although with the growing green movement they are hardly going to endorse cheap flights in this day and age are they?

Can you post evidence that you have done this?

Or are you just taking the lazy way out of just setting up an online petition then drifting away.......

Sorry to be terribly negative but this whole thing does smell a little!