The departure of key figures in the tourism sector from BBVA's Regional Advisory Council in the Canary Islands continues to leave a void in representation that worries industry observers in the archipelago. Following the departure of Eustasio López (Lopesan) and Pedro Agustín del Castillo (formerly of Binter), the financial institution's advisory body has lost its direct connection to the economic engine of southern Gran Canaria, leaving Alfredo Morales as the only member with a profile clearly linked to the operational and strategic management of connectivity and the accommodation sector.
The reconfiguration of this forum, currently chaired by Oliver Alonso (president of the Domingo Alonso Group), reflects a shift towards profiles based in the capital cities—Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife—who, according to industry sources, lack the on-the-ground knowledge of the complex tourism industry. While the council retains figures from healthcare (Jorge Petit), construction (Javier Pérez), and science (Francisco Sánchez), the absence of the major hotel owners in the south throws the advisory balance off at a time of uncertainty regarding the profitability of accommodation.
The departure of these two leading figures from the south stems from disparate but profound reasons. In the case of Pedro Agustín del Castillo, his distancing himself from the CAR coincides with a strategic realignment of his financial interests following his exit from Binter Canarias, as he seeks new investment opportunities outside the bank's institutional purview. Meanwhile, the absence of Eustasio López, president of Lopesan, is marked by the legal battles the businessman faces in Las Palmas, a situation that has reportedly forced him to preemptively reduce his public profile in financial representative bodies since 2016. Nevertheless, he remains the wealthiest individual in the Canary Islands outside of this center of power.
Despite the additions in 2021, such as that of Alicia Martinón (Invercan Grumasa Group), the board has shifted from being a power center for the Maspalomas-Playa del Inglés axis to a forum for diversified representation, but one distanced from the front lines of the tourism "ground zero." This disconnect poses a risk for BBVA when interpreting financing needs and investment cycles in the south of the island, precisely when competition from destinations like Antalya demands a surgical understanding of the market that only large hotel chains possess.
Without the counterpoint of the major managers of the southern accommodation sector, the country's main bank risks designing its territorial strategies based on desk reports, instead of on the reality of a sector that contributes most of the Canary Islands' GDP but has less and less of a voice in its upper echelons.
