“The Platform Affected by the closure of the Barranca de Masca, require the mayor of Buenavista to open the jetty”
After more than 4 months since the closure of the Barranca de Masca, due to the fracture that occurred in the jetty, companies are forced to lay off staff and even rethink their activity, since they are not able to operate in their usual place of work. More than 300 families will be affected if the Town Hall of Buenavista continues to ignore the office received, where it clearly states the completion of the work at the Masca jetty and that, therefore, should be operational. The platform affected by the closure of Barranca de Masca, require the Mayor of Buenavista, the imminent opening of the pier, we can not postpone this situation anymore, it is unsustainable.
MASCA EXPRESS
February 26; the day of “the fateful news” for our company. On that day, because of the bad weather and the fracture of the jetty pillar, they decided to close the ravine completely. The infrastructure of our company is designed for the collection of walkers. We have, no more, no less, four boats dedicated almost exclusively to this activity; Masca Express, Marina Princess Two, El Rapido and El Rápido dos. Our current staff has more than 45 employees, of which ten of them (both land and sea personnel) are assigned to the organization of this activity; client organization at the pier. Sale of tickets ……. Etc. The situation is as follows; If the Masca ravine remains closed, we will have no alternative but to lay off personnel and this is very painful. Our company philosophy is based on; “Create jobs and create a good future for all” We do not want to go back, we want to move forward with our current team. “There is no reason to keep the ravine closed!”
ASOCIACIÓN DE TAXIS DE SANTIAGO DEL TEIDE
On February 26, the closure of the gully ravine was carried out due to problems with the jetty on the beach. These problems have already been solved and delivered the work that originated said closure. From the taxi association of Santiago del Teide we want to express our concern and discomfort about the permanence of this closure. The association is composed of 34 units and more than 50 people between salaried staff and office staff, most of our taxis are up to 8 seats, since we have adapted to the requests of the walkers of the ravine to be able to give a good service to the groups that make this path. We request the opening of the ravine to avoid having to dismiss people since the services we carried out to that enclave are the main source of work of our association.
MARÍTIMA LOS GIGANTES
For more than 30 years we have been collecting hikers from the bay of Masca. At that time, only three or four daily walkers descended. We have been willing to collaborate with any measure that favors the protection of the environment. We have collaborated from the beginning of the construction of the pier to the present, taking construction materials aboard our boats without any compensation and financially supporting any improvement that could be made to offer this trek as a reference on the island. For years we have been expanding our fleet to offer a quality service to our customers. Today, we have four boats that are mostly dedicated to the Masca-Los Gigantes service. We work hand in hand with a multitude of active tourism companies whose main source of income was the Masca ravine and who are currently in a very difficult situation, just like us. The closure of the Masca ravine has forced us to lay off personnel and even stop one of our boats for a long period of time with the great economic loss that this entails. For this reason, from Marítima Acantilados we requested the opening of the Masca ravine after the repair of the jetty as it had been promised since the situation is unsustainable.
CANAVENTURA
We are a small company of six people dedicated to hiking, for more than twelve years of experience in the sector. After having carried out numerous advertising campaigns and invested to make known the Barranco de Masca to the visitor by making transport companies work, to companies of boats that operate in Masca, we have been deeply affected by the unexpected closure of the ravine, after knowing that the work has finished, we request the opening of Masca Canyon YA.
EMPRESA DE TURISMO ACTIVO
We offer the sea kayak departure route from Masca to Los Gigantes. And this was undoubtedly our most demanded route for more than 6 years since the possibility of combining hiking + kayaking in such a special environment quickly became one of the most suggestive “outdoor” activities you can do in Tenerife. Promoted not only by us but by different tour operators and tour operators. The volume of business that occupies this route in our company is approximately 50% of the total of our activities so you can imagine how we are with the high costs involved in operating from the Port of Los Gigantes, hired personnel and other business expenses . We fully agree with the regulation of the ravine, provided that it is done with common sense, without prejudice to anyone and in harmony with the conservation of the natural space that is transited. We believe that this is possible and the sooner they do it, the better. But we do not understand that once the repair of the jetty is completed, the gully will be closed until it is regulated, since there are many companies and many jobs that depend on the tourist activity in this place and we are suffering a lot the consequences of said closure .
DIGASPORTS
Our company DIGA SPORTS has affected the closure of the ravine in an excessive way. We lost our clients’ favorite excursion and with that we lost most of the income. Since February we are struggling to survive. We have fired an employee for lack of work. For us it is very important that the ravine open again, to guarantee fixed and stable incomes.
SUN HOLIDAYS TENERIFE
As the owner and representative of SUN Holidays Tenerife, a company that has been working in the Masca ravine since 1993, I want to express my opinion regarding the situation due to closure of the same. We have always worked in a way that is as safe as possible, like the other companies affected. From my point of view there is no reason not to open the ravine. There are several companies, including ours, that have been forced to stop employees because of the closure of the ravine. Today, after having fixed the jetty, the ravine is neither more nor less dangerous than 25 years ago. For the future we recommend doing some type of control at the entrance of the ravine to avoid accidents of walkers without a guide, with inadequate footwear or without the necessary equipment. I do not consider it necessary to put a daily limit of walkers because the numbers that circulated according to the press are very exaggerated. The control of the entrance and the problem of parking can be fixed little by little, they do not force to leave the Ravine while it is solved. If the Ravine does not open it would soon affect the employment situation more and this fantastic product will disappear from the market.
