“It is sad to see what has happened with El Prat airport”, defended the president of the CEOE and candidate for re-election, Antonio Garamendi. The leader of the employer’s association attacks the blockade on the expansion of the infrastructure that aims to turn Barcelona into a hub and is on the side of the Foment del Treball initiative to recover the extension of the third runway.
Spain and Catalonia cannot give up “a 360 degree airport”, Garamendi defended. The expansion of El Prat, he has added, is “a very clear demand” of CEOE. Although in his day the president of the employers’ association even affirmed that Madrid could take advantage of the blockade on the expansion of El Prat, businessmen fully support the plan for the Barcelona airport and the project promoted by Josep Sánchez Llibre.
The Catalan employers constituted last September the commission that intends to reactivate the expansion project of El Prat. The working group is led by Lluis Moreno, president of the Chamber of Contractistes d’Obres de Catalunya (CCOC), and its objective is to make the great pact to expand the airport a reality.
“The tourists who are going to come in 2030 are going to come from Asia, not where they come from now,” pointed out the Basque businessman, also pointing out that those visitors who may come to Spain must be welcomed with renewed and expanded infrastructures.
Garamendi made these statements this Thursday at the CEOE headquarters on the occasion of the presentation of a “Response Plan for the tourism sector”, a report prepared by the employers’ association and Deloitte. The president of the businessmen has also highlighted that the hotel industry needs “talent”. “There is a lack of people in the hotel industry”, he has denounced. “It is not very understandable that we have 3 million unemployed and there is a lack of people” to work in the sector”, he stressed. For the CEOE, there is a “problem of aptitude and also of attitude”.
Along the same lines as Garamendi, Juan Cierco, Iberia’s corporate director, has positioned himself, stressing that from 2030 there will be 2,400 million potential tourists, especially from Asia, who are going to choose a country to travel to and, therefore, Spain has to be prepared for that moment.
“Without connectivity there is no tourism”, has claimed the also adviser of the main national airline, who has highlighted that, despite the fact that Spain is “the country best prepared to welcome Asian tourists”, Paris, Rome or London count today with a competitive advantage for these visitors.
Barcelona barely has 6% of its seats destined for Asian tourists. Madrid, 5%. The rest of European capitals exceed 20% and 30% in some cases. If decisions are not made and there is consensus, “we are going to lose a historic opportunity,” Cierco warned. “A State policy is needed to connect Spain with the rest of the planet”, he concluded.
