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ARCHIVED - Lanzarote tourism bosses scramble to assure they still want British holidaymakers

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The Spanish island came under fire after implying it wanted “higher quality” tourism than the UK has to offer

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Lanzarote tourism bosses scramble to assure they still want British holidaymakers

Tourism bosses on the Spanish islands have once again put their foot in it and come under harsh criticism for implying that their priorities have shifted away from the lucrative British market towards a higher class of holidaymaker from other European countries.

Last week, Lanzarote’s president Dolores Corujo echoed the sentiments of the Balearic Islands, claiming the holiday hotspot was being overrun by tourists and that the authorities were focusing on attracting visitors from the likes of Germany and France this year.

Speaking with representatives from the German tourism market, Ms Corujo said: "It's essential to work on the diversification of the sector and the growth of markets like the German market, which adapt to our intentions of aiming at higher-quality tourism and holidaymakers who spend more when they're here and moves us away from mass tourism."

Her faux pas comes just a few months after a similar blunder by Mallorca’s Director of Tourism, Lucía Escribano, who said that the island is "not interested in having the budget tourists from the UK, we don’t care if they go elsewhere to Greece and Turkey."

Ms Corujo’s comments sparked outrage among British travel reps, and expressing his “extreme concern”, Jet2 boss Steve Heapy wrote her a letter demanding an answer about whether UK holidaymakers were still welcome on the Canary Island.

Anxious to minimise the backlash, the Federacion Turistica de Lanzarote (FTL) issued a statement reiterating how important British tourists are to the island.

"We have always had very strong ties with the British market and, thanks to this, relations have been strengthened in such a way that they present a high level of fidelity with the Island,” the FTL stated.

“Lanzarote is an absolutely hospitable island and will continue to be so for British tourists, for which we emphasise their importance in the tourism and economic sphere of the island.”

Also of interest: Balearic Islands try to regulate illegal tourist lets

Image: Pexels

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