Demand, which has increased significantly, for travel, expansion of available destinations and lengthy medical examinations have caused chaos at the airport of the popular Spanish resort of Gran Canaria. The crowd of tourists spent a long time in the indoor room of the airport, stepping on each other’s heels – such a tense picture formed from numerous angry statements of tourists on social networks and statements of the airport management.
The overcrowding of the island resort’s airport led to complete chaos. However, experts hastened to call what is happening completely unacceptable, because the giant queues damage the reputation of the island, contrary to antiquities and threaten human health. Experts in the sector called for additional staff to address the problems of long queues and chaos at border controls. Angry tourists also accused anti-anti-inflammatory medical examinations of the delay.
According to the Federation of Hotel Business and Tourism Entrepreneurs (FEHT) Las Palmas, the capital of the resort and the largest city in the Canary Islands, the airport is currently on the verge of collapse. This was confirmed by the president of the organization Jose Maria Magnariqua. This weekend, thousands of foreign tourists stood in chaotic queues for medical examinations. Photographs posted on social media showed hundreds of passengers “glued to each other and not keeping a social distance.” “It’s bullying! We are here like herrings in a barrel,” similar angry comments were left by holidaymakers stuck at the airport.
424 flights were scheduled for Saturday. This means that the Spanish airport had to check more than 52,000 tourists. According to Aena, only eight counters were opened for passengers from the Schengen area, and eight more for the rest. The gigantic influx of travelers led to the fact that the terminal “lay” at certain moments and could no longer serve passengers. The situation was not the best on Sunday, although there were fewer flights – only 355.
“Hundreds of passengers waiting their turn without a minimum distance with tourists standing nearby, has a very bad effect on the image of the destination,” – said the head of the federation.
In turn, the Tourism Association said the airport had to be ready for long queues because it knew how many flights were planned. At the same time, the airport management has not yet commented on further actions to unload the queues.
Gran Canaria is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Canary Islands among foreign tourists, including Ukrainians and Russians. The resort island is known for its beaches with both white and black volcanic sand.