A major tourism body has urged action over what it dubbed ‘not acceptable’ delays at major airports popular with Brits, especially during the peak winter sun season.
According to The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT), airports in the Canary Islands which welcome a large number of non-EU passengers such as Brits are frequently dealing with congestion around passport control. Canarian Weekly reports Tenerife South and Lanzarote Airport are “most affected” and frequently see long waits, with representatives from the tourism industry claiming that queues of over two hours are becoming a regular occurrence at peak times.
The organisation claims the delays are causing frustration among holidaymakers and offering a less than ideal first impression of the islands.
CEHAT told the Canary Islands based news outlet that this is a long-term issue, and that two particular problems need to be addressed. Firstly, technical issues with slow processing times at new biometric passport control systems were blamed for some of the delays. Secondly, police staffing levels were described as “insufficient”, with not enough officers on shift to deal with the high volume of passengers passing through the airports.
It highlighted that the impact of long queues can be particularly harsh for families with children, older people, and those with disabilities who may find it a challenge to stand in line for such a long time. It’s not just tourists who are affected by queues, local residents and tourism workers can also get caught up in delays.
CEHAT has urged local authorities to increase staffing levels at passport control to cut the queues, and to put measures in place to ensure biometric systems are fully-operational at peak times.
Jorge Marichal, president of CEHAT and the Tenerife hotel association Ashotel, stressed the urgency of the situation, saying:: “After several hours of travel, it is not acceptable for visitors to face excessive waits just to enter the Canary Islands. This situation requires an immediate and coordinated response.”
The organisation also warned that a failure to act could damage the islands’ image as a tourist destination, putting it at a disadvantage in a competitive holiday market.
Visitors to the Canaries in recent weeks have taken to social media to share their tales of airport delays. In a Facebook group, one poster claimed to have stood in a queue at Tenerife South Airport on December 13 for over two hours, sharing a photo of her fellow holidaymakers looking gloomy while waiting in line.
A recent visitor to Lanzarote claimed they’d queued for 45 minutes to scan their passport, then had to join another queue to get it stamped, claiming it was the “worst arrival ever in 10 years coming”, despite arriving on a Sunday.
However, not every traveller has reported long queues. Others have been lucky and shared photos of empty gates and few people around. One said of their experience at Lanzarote airport: “It was all done in less than 15 minutes from joining the queue to be waiting for the suitcase”.
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This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
