New Look For Puerto Del Carmen
Puerto del Carmen has long been the engine room of tourism on Lanzarote. Once known locally as Tiñosa, this popular resort really took off in the 1980´s – initially in and around the old harbour fishing area – which is still a focal point of the resort today. And has been attracting higher visitor numbers than resort rivals Costa Teguise to the North and Playa Blanca to the south ever since.
Where tourism leads, property development tends to follow. And as a result demand for property for sale in Puerto del Carmen over the last decade has remained consistently strong. Not least as property owners are able to rent their apartments out for twelve months of the year thanks to Lanzarote´s year round clement climate.
The majority of holiday accommodation in Puerto del Carmen is comprised of self-catering apartments. Offering fairly basic one or two star amenities. So enabling tour operators such as First Choice and Airtours to offer very cheap package holidays to Lanzarote.
All-inclusive package deals have become quite pervasive – an arrangement which is much maligned by local businesses such as bars and restaurants. As many tourists now rarely venture out from their accommodation as all of their needs are catered to on site. However this pattern of development has become increasingly at odds with the strategy of the island tourist authorities, who are keen to modernize the resort and take Puerto del Carmen up market.
Central to this strategy is the pedestrianisation of the main Avenida del las Playas – which runs alongside the resorts main beaches and which is currently
According to a recent announcement from the Director General for Tourist Infrastructures on Lanzarote the pedestrianisation of the main sea front promenade in Puerto del Carmen will be going ahead in 2008,
The project to pave the main Avenida de las Playas has been mooted for some time and is felt by many local observers to present a real opportunity to improve the quality of the infrastructure and tourist offering in Lanzarote´s most popular resort.
€855,000.00 has been earmarked for the project and the official intention is to close the Avenida to traffic at the end of 2007. With work scheduled for completion before the summer season of 2008.
The pedestrianisation of Puerto del Carmen is part of a broader plan to “reinvent” tourism in the resort – according to the mayor of the local municipality of Tias. By improving both the infrastructure of the resort and the standard of accommodations offered by apartment complexes.
With the overall aim of ensuring that Puerto del Carmen is able to compete on a more equal footing with other popular tourist destinations across Europe.