2023-09-20 13:58:44
Hotel entrepreneur and president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT) since 2019, Jorge Marichal It was one of the main interventions in the presentation of the XIX Congress of Spanish Hoteliers.
What is your assessment of this season?
It has been very good. At the national level, the numbers in the main emitters have performed, despite the difficulties of some economies that have not just started. So we can say that the season is being very good and the summer has been excellent throughout the country.
What will be the main demands at the Hoteliers Congress?
Hoteliers have to make public institutions understand the need for co-investment, not only in infrastructure, but also in people and, above all, in the new trends that clients demand. We are also going to talk about the problems that tourist activity generates and that we have to face, because like any other economic activity, tourism generates discrepancies with other sectors.
One of the concerns that is growing in the sector is how the waves of heat to tourism. How do you see it?
There have always been heat waves in summer, hail in times of storm, fires… all of this must be regretted and faced, of course. But tourist activity has become one of the main supporters of these causes. In Tenerife, for example, after the fires we made ourselves available to the authorities and thanks to that many people were able to stay. Sometimes there have been problems with volcanoes, toxic clouds… and hotels have served as shelter and supplies for people working in disasters.
What should the Government do with Imserso trips?
These tourists have every right to have this program with competitive prices, but it is true that the clients are not the same as they were twenty years ago. The culture, the trend, the capabilities of older people have changed… he Immerse It has to adapt to the new times. Not only the prices, but also the way the program is developed. We are in contact with the Government, although it is a complicated moment because it is in office, so that it supports Imserso and adapts it to new needs.
Both Mallorca and the Canary Islands now have direct flights to the US. Is this market taking off?
Yes. Malaga is also going to join. It is working very well, the US market represents more than 80 million people with an upper-middle income. On a climatic level, Spain is very good for them and also as a bridge to visit Europe.
The price of flights does not stop growing. Is it affecting national tourism, for example in Mallorca?
Yes, of course it is affecting. Connectivity is one of the most important parts of the tourist experience. We have been talking for a long time about the right of the islanders to connect with the peninsular territory at a reasonable price, but we will also have to start talking about the fact that the peninsulars have the right to the same thing, to go to the island territories at a reasonable price.
Another open front in flights is the EU regulation that imposes biofuels on airplanes. Are you concerned in the sector?
It worries us a lot. We will have to collaborate with institutions to reduce emissions and weather climate episodes. We cannot be oblivious to that, but we need time and a clear roadmap to reach the goal without destroying the economic fabric. Our GDP is totally focused on tourist activity.
Related news
In October a European summit will be held in Mallorca that will bring together all the tourism ministers. What issues need to be influenced at the European level?
It is a shame that the early elections have left the Spanish presidency of the European Union in the background; it was our time to put the issues that concern us on the table. We see criticism that hoteliers promote mass tourism, but they criticize the wrong sector; We are the same as always, hotel beds have practically not grown in the last 20 years. The serious problem has been the touristification of residential housing, a phenomenon that has increased more than 200% in the last 10 years. A disservice has been done to zoning and separation of uses. We must put a stop to the anarchy of the last twelve in tourist housing. We are not against it, but we want it to be regulated and to go through the same regulations as us so that it is fair competition.
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