Ángel Vázquez has had a busy year. As the Cabildo’s Councillor for Tourist Promotion he’s expected to attend trade fairs throughout Europe and have meetings with all sorts of people related to the planning and management of tourism on Lanzarote. But last year his job suddenly became a lot more challenging, first with the withdrawal of Ryanair’s Canarian bases, then with the shocking collapse of Thomas Cook, which devastated the winter schedules.

Charmaine Arbouin is the British Consul for Andalusia and the Canary Islands. Based in Málaga, she covers the regions of Spain with by far the largest concentration of British residents. We pulled her to one side for a quick chat.