President of La Palma Appeals to Cruise Ships to Keep Coming Despite Active Volcano

President Mariano Hernandez says the island is operating normally in spite of the lava flow.

Seatrade Cruise News is reporting that La Palma President Hernandez has told the media that ‘La Palma is a safe destination that offers an incredible experience to visitors for its exuberant nature, now also including the possibility to visit an active volcano. La Palma needs all of you more than ever to recover the economy of the island as soon as possible.’ Hernandez said that only 8% of the island is affected by the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

His comments were made during a webinar earlier this week organized by the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and CLIA Spain at which 20 cruise line executives participated.

Carlos Gonzalez, president, Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife proposed setting up a working to monitor the situation and received support from from Cruise Lines Industry

Association Spain Director Alfredo Serrano and the counsellor of tourism of the Canary Islands government, Yaiza Castilla, who extended support on behalf of the regional government to La Palma's cruise industry and the rest of the archipelago.

Gonzalez said during the webinair, ‘We all have the opportunity to support the island by keeping the cruise operations in the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma, which is operating normally since it is located at the other edge of the island than the volcano.’