11 September 2003 Diversion due to Road Works on the TF-82

Avoiding delays due to necessary improvements to the road

Juan Yorgeni Socas Martín from the department of Traffic and Citizen security at the Town Hall in Santiago del Teide has decided, before road works commence in ernest in El Casco - the central zone of the town of Santiago del Teide, to divert the flow of traffic on the TF-82.

The provisional diversion is expected to be in force until December.

Taking in to account the high level of traffic which uses the route as a main connection from the North West to the South of the Island the following temporary solution has been devised:

At the Arguayo and Tamaimo crossroads on the Tf-82 : Northbound traffic will be diverted towards the entrance of the Municipal Cemetery at El Casco which will then follow along Calle La Placeta to join up with the Tf-82 again at the Masca crossroads; however Southbound traffic, will make use of the single lane still open on the Tf-82.

The resurfacing and highway improvements to the Tf-82, at El Casco, Santiago del Teide, are being carried out under the auspices of the Consejería de Infraestructuras y Carreteras del Excmo. Cabildo Insular de Tenerife ( Department of Highways of the Island Government), whose representative D. Lorenzo Dorta, is expected to visit the works next week accompanied by the Mayor of this Municipality, Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos. The work is expected to cost 1,82 million euros.

Our Mayor delivers the bell to the airport today

The Town council of Santiago del Teide, whose Mayor is Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos, are donating a church bell to the Canarian community in Venezuela and more specifically to the association of friends of Santiago del Teide whose president is D. Hilario Trujillo.

The Mayor is accompanying the bell to the north airport today so that he can apply for the permits required to export the bell to Venezuela on the 12th of September via the company Islas Airways

The Bell will be placed in the new Church of our Lady of Candelaria being constructed by the Canarian Association in the municipality of El Paraíso in Venezuela, often affectionately called the "eighth canary island"

In helping with this important part of the construction of the place of worship, we commemorate the visit of members of the Canarian Community of Venezuela to our municipality during the time when our previous mayor Pancracio Socas (now tragically deceased) made a promise on behalf of the Town Council of Santiago del Teide to give some sort of material aid to the project.

The flight on which the bell will travel is scheduled to leave at 12.00 hours tomorrow 12th September from the Los Rodeos airport in the north of the island

The ecological organization Greenpeace assures in their report ' Destruction at all costs 2003', that the process of Evaluation into the Environmental Impact of the industrial Port of Granadilla, on the Southeastern coastline of Tenerife "is the most controversial it has ever seen", because it is unviable economically, the web of self interest that it hides and because it will certainly mean the destruction of six kilometers of coast-line with some of the best beaches of the Island.

http://www.greenpeace.org

Mascareño affirms that the idea was proposed by mayor, Juan Gorrín, to the people in charge of each individual group and it seemed to all concerned a good proposal designed only to improve civil security.

At the present time , the Civil defense group members with the aid of several monitors,are in the middle of to trying to raise their level of effectiveness during emergencies.

Mascareño also indicated that the project has served to begin to solve any small differences that existed between the diverse organisations

The distinctive, overhanging "wave" curving out over the white concrete Auditorium de Tenerife in Santa Cruz is the latest creation of renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and the royal press office has now advised the Cabildo that His Royal Highness Prince Felipe will represent their majesties in the official inauguration of the concert hall, expected to be on the 26 of September.A specially commissioned work dedicated to Queen Sofía by Pendereck "Real Fanfarria" will be performed at the ceremony.

The parents of a two-year-old girl who had her organs removed by Spanish doctors after dying on holiday today expressed their horror that no one asked their permission to retain her organs.
Doctors in Tenerife removed all of Megan Jones' organs after she contracted a virus and died of natural causes while on holiday with her parents.

Though her parents, Debbie Ali and David Jones, had agreed to donate her liver and kidneys, they were not consulted about the removal of her other organs.

The foreign office confirmed that under Spanish law, doctors do not have to ask for parental permission before retaining organs.

A coroner in Merseyside discovered that Megan's organs were missing while carrying out a second inquest and post-mortem.

Ms Ali, 29, told the Daily Post in Liverpool: "I will never recover from the shock of losing my beautiful little girl. But what they did to her afterwards was horrific."

A spokesman for the coroner's office in Wirral, Merseyside, confirmed that Megan died at the University Hospital in Santa Cruz on April 14.

He said that pathologists at Alder Hey hospital discovered all Megan's organs had been removed, and the child's body had been packed with surgical padding.

Megan's family are still waiting for the missing organs to be returned.

A spokesman for the foreign office said: "Local laws allow for the removal, retention and disposal of organs or tissue during the post mortem process.

"The authorities in Spain do not have to inform relatives or the consul about this and the Foreign Office has no jurisdiction to intervene or change the law.

"We will do all we can to reduce the suffering and we endeavour to return Megan's organs to the UK as quickly as possible," he said.

In the UK, medical staff must obtain consent from next of kin before removing the organs of either a child or an adult. Even when an adult has signed an organ donor register or carries a card specifying their wishes, the specific consent of family is required.

A spokeswoman for UK Transplant said in Megan's case there were two reasons why the two-year-old's organs might have been retained: donation for transplant and organ retention, possibly for research. In Britain, family members would have to provide consent for each type of use.

More than 5,700 people across the UK are currently waiting for an organ to be found for them, the spokeswoman for UK Transplant said. If those who have become too ill while waiting for a transplant are included, the number rises to about 7,000 people.

There is a shortage of donors in the UK, and only about 2,800 transplants are carried out each year in Britain. About 400 people die every year while waiting for a suitable organ.

The British Medical Association (BMA) would like to see a system of presumed consent for adults, where doctors could use organs for donation unless the family specifically said otherwise.

This system, a BMA spokeswoman said, would go some way towards lowering the number of people who die each year while waiting for a transplant.

The need to obtain consent for children should remain, she said.

Both the BMA and UK Transplant stressed that the need to obtain consent from families was not the only issue holding back transplant numbers.

The BMA cited the need for more intensive care beds, and UK Transplant pointed out that in Spain, every hospital has a transplant coordinator, while the UK has nowhere near as many.

"The key message is to tell your loved ones your wishes," said the spokeswoman for UK Transplant, adding that families found decisions easier to make if the deceased has made their wishes known.

"Families say time and time again they gain some small comfort from donation."

Source: Guardian Unlimited http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1036355,00.html

Tour operators in Germany are generally optimistic about their expectations for the forthcoming winter season on the Canary Islands. With good summer growth rates, the islands are becoming more of an all-year destination rather than mostly one for the winter months. Neckermann, for example, has nearly a 50-50 split between summer and winter clients for the islands compared to a former 70% share for the winter. It reports good summer growth rates for La Palma, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. TUI has a turnover and client volume plus for the islands for summer 2003, and expects good winter business thanks to new Riu and Magic Life properties.

Tenerife receives the most tourists with an estimated 3.9 million per year accommodated in some 190,000 beds, according to figures from the Gran Canaria tourist board. Gran Canaria has about 3 million annual tourists and a bedstock of 160,000. Lanzarote is the third-largest destination in the Canary Islands with 1.8 million visitors and 120,000 beds ahead of Fuerteventura with 1.5 million tourists and 80,000 beds. The two smallest islands, La Palma and La Gomera have 300,000 and 200,000 annual tourists respectively but La Palma, with 30,000 beds, has significantly more capacity than Gomera with its 8,000 beds.

Hoteliers get around building ban
The ban on new hotels on Gran Canaria which took force in April appears to be having only a limited effect at present, however, due to various loopholes. Although no new hotels are allowed in general, they are permitted where they would improve the attractiveness of bodegas, shops and restaurants in a region. The short-term impact is that new hotels are being built in coastal areas which were formerly short of accommodation such as Mogán and Puerto Rico, west of Maspalomas. About 8,000 new beds will be coming on to the market. At the same time, hotels in areas such as Maspalomas and San Agustín are being modernised and upgraded to four or five-star hotels, leading to over-capacity in the premium sector and a possible shortage of mid-market three-star hotels.

As a result, room rates at the top of the market are falling. "We would have to cut by 40% to be at the current market level," said Sandra Leibrock, sales director of Steigenberger La Canaria. Room rates for bed and breakfast per person per night in five-star hotels are down to a loss-making EUR 30 compared to a break-even level of EUR 60-70.

Public-private tourism marketing for Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria now aims to catch up on rival Tenerife by converting its state-owned tourist board into a marketing agency under a public-private partnership. Tenerife has already done this and has successfully re-structured tourism marketing into segments such as water sports, nature, golf and incentives. The new Gran Canaria tourism minister Juan José Cardona aims to draw up a tourism masterplan in co-operation with the island?s tourism industry and market the island in future with products such as wellness and golf to complement the main beach holiday product. In addition, some EUR 76 million is due to be invested in infrastructure projects such as coastal promenades, roads, greening of public spaces and renovation of historic centres.

His counterpart on Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez Esparza, is meanwhile working on a four-year marketing plan focusing on further specialisation and higher quality standards. Esparza also warns about over-capacity but stresses that Tenerife will do everything to maintain price levels and remain competitive.

Source:
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The number of fligh reservations to the Canary Islands in the first quarter of year 2003 has increased some 88.2% on the previous year. An increase on the 2002 figure of 1,273,691 to 2,397,589 in the 1st quarter of this year.

SAP AMADEUS

Amadeus SAP is the National company of Marketing (NMC) of Amadeus in Spain. Its main activity is the commercialization and local adaptation of the Amadeus System and its booking system products for travel agencies.

In 2002, Amadeus SAP generated more than 27.7 million reservations and their agencies, through the Amadeus system, were responsible for the sales of tourist products to the value of 6,500 million euros. As far as the number of flight tickets issued in Spain go they represent 96% of the total market.

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