The President of Lanzarote’s Tourist Federation, Susana Pérez, has said the regular long queues at César Manrique Airport are “unacceptable.”
“This cannot carry on”, Pérez said on Lancelot TV. “After a four- or five-hour journey, mainly from the United Kingdom, on top of the time spent arriving early at their departure airport and traveling from home, passengers encounter delays that sometimes exceed three or even four hours,”
Pérez described regular queues at busy periods of between two and four thousand passengers, waiting for at least two hours to get their passports stamped. “The situation “has already been brought to the attention of the authorities and solutions must be found,” she added.
Pérez pointed out that the delays did not just cause huge inconvenience to passengers, damaging Lanzarote’s image as a welcoming destination, but also disrupted the chain of service.
“The tour guide is waiting, the hotel has scheduled check-ins for a specific time and has to reorganize its service, deciding whether to keep the buffet or prepare cold dinners. The entire operation breaks down from that moment on,” explained Pérez, who also pointed out that tourist coaches have to remain parked at the airport longer, with the consequent cost of parking and fees.
While acknowledging that Spain’s Interior Ministry has installed some 30 EES machines for non-EU tourists, she claimed that this was insufficient, and that the software was prone to errors. “Right now, there’s a double check that slows down the whole process,” she remarked.
Pérez confirmed that she has met with Canarian representatives of Aena and the Spanish government to try to improve the system, but also added that the solution is not simple due to space limitations at the airport and the difficulty major tour operators face in adjusting flight schedules to certain time slots.
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