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06-09-2022, 09:53 PM
Noticias:
Holiday homes take over Fuerteventura.
The pandemic accelerated some models that seem to have come to stay in relation to the tourism industry, and holiday housing is one of the most benefited, to the point of becoming one of the largest consumers of land on the island, as well as a point of imbalance in terms of housing in certain areas.
The different models of teleworking tourism that were vehemently sold by both the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Fuerteventura managed to make up tourist results, but at the same time they created the breeding ground for the occupation of business housing related to holiday rentals and Europeans with "greater purchasing power".
Houses that are hotels multiply like mushrooms under the name of Surf Camps, which become gold mines for urban developers and land owners, which turn the north of Fuerteventura into the new gold of this type of business.
In this sense, a report prepared among organizations from Lanzarote, Ibiza, Menorca and Fuerteventura shows the impact that COVID-19 had on these territories.
Thus, after the Government decreed on March 14 the state of alarm and tourists returned to their countries of origin, an unprecedented image was given in the Canary archipelago -which lives on tourism throughout the year thanks to its climate- with its bars, restaurants, hotels and beaches completely empty of tourists, with a fall of 69% in Fuerteventura.
According to the report, the all-time high was reached by these four islands in 2017, with more than nine million tourists in total. In 2020, on the other hand, this figure barely exceeded two and a half million. Among the data that most attract attention, it is highlighted that that year no cruise ships arrived in Eivissa and Menorca, while in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura they collapsed. Institutions worked hard to throw themselves into a new type of traveler emerged from the pandemic, the digital nomad. "High purchasing power and a computer, with those keys was sold, and Fuerteventura is sold to people who become residents quoting in their countries of origin and using all services without paying any type of tax that improves our island, not like the rest of residents who do pay, "explains Tomás Caraballo, sociologist resident in Villaverde.
With many hotels closed, on the other hand, the places in holiday homes did increase, in this way. In Lanzarote, they went from 23,985 in 2019 to 29,349 in 2020; in Menorca, from 25,936 in 2019 to 27,931 in 2020; in Fuerteventura, from 20,300 in 2019 to 22,057 in 2020 and, in Eivissa, from 12,675 in 2019 to 17,938 in 2020.
The criteria to organize within the norm a holiday home are very simple. At the time, only the criticism of hoteliers and resort owners was met for what they considered unfair competition, but the lack of attention of politicians and rulers has turned anyone into a "professional" of the sector and potential entrepreneur.
The application for licenses for the construction of single-family houses skyrockets in areas such as Lajares or Triquivijate, making the land prohibitive, financing local municipalities and generating inequality and excessive consumption of the territory.
"No one seems to realize the growth and social, cultural, environmental loss of this real estate boom associated with the holiday season. No one protests from the environmental organizations because they remain complicit in the model. Meanwhile, population growth and the lack of affordable housing continue to skyrocket. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't look good," says Tomas Caraballo.
In this way we find the great debacle of social housing for workers or locals, behind the numbers is, as we say, the massive touristification of real estate, "which in certain localities has reduced to a minimum the offer of rental for long stay. In this sense, local and regional authorities continue to turn a deaf ear to the need for planning and coordination of institutions to build and promote, while trying to manage this new devourer of territory, "says Caraballo.
Holiday homes take over Fuerteventura.
The pandemic accelerated some models that seem to have come to stay in relation to the tourism industry, and holiday housing is one of the most benefited, to the point of becoming one of the largest consumers of land on the island, as well as a point of imbalance in terms of housing in certain areas.
The different models of teleworking tourism that were vehemently sold by both the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Fuerteventura managed to make up tourist results, but at the same time they created the breeding ground for the occupation of business housing related to holiday rentals and Europeans with "greater purchasing power".
Houses that are hotels multiply like mushrooms under the name of Surf Camps, which become gold mines for urban developers and land owners, which turn the north of Fuerteventura into the new gold of this type of business.
In this sense, a report prepared among organizations from Lanzarote, Ibiza, Menorca and Fuerteventura shows the impact that COVID-19 had on these territories.
Thus, after the Government decreed on March 14 the state of alarm and tourists returned to their countries of origin, an unprecedented image was given in the Canary archipelago -which lives on tourism throughout the year thanks to its climate- with its bars, restaurants, hotels and beaches completely empty of tourists, with a fall of 69% in Fuerteventura.
According to the report, the all-time high was reached by these four islands in 2017, with more than nine million tourists in total. In 2020, on the other hand, this figure barely exceeded two and a half million. Among the data that most attract attention, it is highlighted that that year no cruise ships arrived in Eivissa and Menorca, while in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura they collapsed. Institutions worked hard to throw themselves into a new type of traveler emerged from the pandemic, the digital nomad. "High purchasing power and a computer, with those keys was sold, and Fuerteventura is sold to people who become residents quoting in their countries of origin and using all services without paying any type of tax that improves our island, not like the rest of residents who do pay, "explains Tomás Caraballo, sociologist resident in Villaverde.
With many hotels closed, on the other hand, the places in holiday homes did increase, in this way. In Lanzarote, they went from 23,985 in 2019 to 29,349 in 2020; in Menorca, from 25,936 in 2019 to 27,931 in 2020; in Fuerteventura, from 20,300 in 2019 to 22,057 in 2020 and, in Eivissa, from 12,675 in 2019 to 17,938 in 2020.
The criteria to organize within the norm a holiday home are very simple. At the time, only the criticism of hoteliers and resort owners was met for what they considered unfair competition, but the lack of attention of politicians and rulers has turned anyone into a "professional" of the sector and potential entrepreneur.
The application for licenses for the construction of single-family houses skyrockets in areas such as Lajares or Triquivijate, making the land prohibitive, financing local municipalities and generating inequality and excessive consumption of the territory.
"No one seems to realize the growth and social, cultural, environmental loss of this real estate boom associated with the holiday season. No one protests from the environmental organizations because they remain complicit in the model. Meanwhile, population growth and the lack of affordable housing continue to skyrocket. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't look good," says Tomas Caraballo.
In this way we find the great debacle of social housing for workers or locals, behind the numbers is, as we say, the massive touristification of real estate, "which in certain localities has reduced to a minimum the offer of rental for long stay. In this sense, local and regional authorities continue to turn a deaf ear to the need for planning and coordination of institutions to build and promote, while trying to manage this new devourer of territory, "says Caraballo.