The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has called on the tourism sector to work with the public authorities, steering clear of «demagoguery and populism», to address the improvements needed to boost productivity, wages and the distribution of wealth across the islands.
This was the request made by Clavijo at the opening of the forum ‚The Future of Tourism: Sovereignty, Governance and the Export of Knowledge‘, organised by Editorial Prensa Ibérica.
As well as highlighting the added value provided by tourism in the Canary Islands, despite operating in an outermost region with all the limitations that this entails, which, in his view, demonstrates that on the islands «we know how to do things properly and are attractive to investment», Clavijo has deemed it necessary to find opportunities «to discuss calmly» how to «overcome the structural challenges facing the islands that have persisted over time».
Canary Islands: Low wages exacerbate the unequal distribution of wealth
«When we keep doing the same thing over and over again whilst expecting different results, we are overcome by a sense of melancholy. Today we want to propose some major agreements» which entail «each of us, within our own sphere of influence, taking personal responsibility for what happens in the archipelago» so that we all «take on a challenge», he emphasised.
The president referred to the efforts made by the tourism sector, with the Canary Islands Government acting as a mediator, to improve its collective agreements, whilst pointing out that wages in the Canary Islands remain «second from the bottom».
He also referred to the persistence in the Canary Islands of «a serious problem regarding productivity and the distribution of wealth, resulting from relatively low wages», which creates «a problem of disposable income» for families.
As these are three closely related issues, Clavijo has urged all the sectors concerned to «take on their fair share of the challenges facing society», given that around 700,000 people are living on the poverty line, despite having a «stable job».
«Our main source of wealth and employment, the tourism sector, together with the public authorities, should tackle this challenge jointly without resorting to demagoguery and populism» because «there is a lot of talk, but we are unable to sit down together around a table to address these challenges as a whole, as a society», he said.
Canary Islands Government is committed to public-private partnerships
Clavijo has stated that the Canary Islands Government he leads «refuses to accept that there should continue to be an unequal distribution of wealth in the Canary Islands, or that we should continue to lag behind in social indicators, per capita income or average wages», and is therefore «striving, working and implementing measures to reverse this situation».
«Public authorities cannot tackle these issues on their own», which is why he has insisted that they be addressed «jointly» with other stakeholders, but «in a calm and measured manner», as this is not a matter of «the public sector versus the private sector, but rather the public sector working alongside the private sector to improve our society».
Comments (0)
No comments on this article yet.