Hospitality industry calls for greater public-private collaboration ahead of European summit
At the end of April, Spain will bring together a hundred European hotel and tourism representatives from 35 countries to reflect on the future of the sector in the European Union. Thus, professionals from hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés and similar establishments in Europe will meet from 26 to 28 April in the south of Tenerife (Adeje) to hold the 86th General Assembly of their employers’ association, Hotrec, a business conclave which will be held at the GF Victoria hotel.
To present the keys to this assembly, the president of CEHAT and Ashotel, Jorge Marichal, the mayor of Adeje, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, and the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Pedro Martín, appeared at a press conference last week. Both public corporations are partners of this business event.
Jorge Marichal recalled that hospitality activity in Spain “is a fundamental pillar of our economy and part of our DNA, so for us it is a great satisfaction to become a meeting point for the sector at European level”. Marichal also pointed out that “until now, Spain and the Canary Islands have been eminently tourist destinations, a perfect opportunity to tell Hotrec representatives from eminently emitting countries what we are like as a destination”.
The sector considers the meeting at the end of this month to be crucial for its demands.
Marichal commented that this business meeting comes at a key moment, just when on 1 July Spain will take over the Presidency of the European Union. Pedro Martín highlighted the fact that Tenerife is once again hosting an international event to debate and reflect on the future of the hotel and catering industry, and emphasised the work carried out to promote new tourism strategies linked to sustainability and digitalisation.
“Europe has outlined a strategy for the present and future of sustainable tourism, and in Tenerife we have aligned our objectives to promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, strengthen the resilience of the destination, mitigate the effects of covid-19 and support the ecological and digital transitions, two key factors of competitiveness”.
Meanwhile, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga commented that the fact that the main organisations that bring together the European hospitality sector “is essential to make our demands visible and the need for the public and private sectors to go hand in hand for mutual benefit; in the case of the administrations, so that the wealth generated is distributed properly and serves to provide opportunities for all citizens”. “We will not cease in the demand for the necessary improvement of all services offered to tourists, in the pursuit of excellence in all areas,” said the mayor of Adeje, who gave as an example of this improvement training.
For his part, Alexandros Vassilikos, president of Hotrec, intervened via a video message to say “delegates from all over Europe will travel to Tenerife for our General Assembly and I am sure it will be a moment to observe and experience the wonders of this beautiful island”.
Likewise, for José Luis Yzuel, from Hostelería de España, the General Assembly of Hotrec “is an opportunity to demonstrate the unity of all the European countries, in a subject as important for all of us as tourism”, while he also highlighted the fact that it is being held in the Canary Islands, “a perfect setting for the tourism industry in the Canary Islands”.
The Canary Islands”, a perfect framework to work side by side and to be able to move forward and anticipate all the future challenges that are coming at European level”.
Key issues
The representatives of the European hospitality industry will debate and reflect during the three days on issues related to sector regulations and standards, digitisation, training and talent retention in the sector, accessibility, e-commerce and tourist accommodation and sustainability, among other issues.
Ashotel has also scheduled for the second day of the Assembly a technical conference on tourism sustainability, one of the key axes of the sector, in which different specialised professionals will take part. This conference, which will take place at the facilities of the Instituto Tecnológico de Energías Renovables (ITER), an international benchmark research centre for renewable energies, engineering, telecommunications, environment and genomics under the auspices of the Cabildo of Tenerife, will include a visit to bioclimatic housing and will be a meeting point for the exchange of real experiences that some associated and European companies have implemented in the field of sustainability.
The internal work sessions on the first day will take place at the GF Victoria hotel in Costa Adeje. In addition, Ashotel has designed a whole programme of parallel activities to promote knowledge of the destination.
