Ruling of expiration to the RIU Oliva Beach hotel in Fuerteventura

Victory for Fuerteventura: Ecologists in Action celebrates the expiration of the concession and the demolition order of the Riu Oliva Beach hotel

• After a long battle in defense of the Corralejo Dunes, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge confirms, in accordance with the opinion of the Council of State, the expiration of the concession granted to the RIU Oliva Beach hotel to continue occupying this Space Protected Natural and orders the buildings to be demolished.
• Ben Magec, the Canary Islands federation of Ecologists in Action, applauds the ruling, the result of its tireless work that, since 2020, it has carried out to denounce this hotel project of illegal construction in the courts and in the public opinion.

The Ben Magec – Ecologists in Action federation has been celebrating since yesterday, February 28, the ratification of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of the expiration and demolition order of the RIU Oliva Beach hotel, built from illegally on the Dunas de Corralejo Natural Park, on the island of Fuerteventura.

This resolution is the result of the hotel chain's repeated failures to comply with requirements clearly established in the concession. Among them, illegal constructions that Ecologistas en Acción already denounced in 2020, such as a roundabout between the hotel and the apartments, an access road and the fencing and enclosing of public areas. Works for which the Ministry for the Ecological Transition fined RIU 204,000 euros for a serious infraction in 2022 and they were ordered to demolish the buildings, something that the hotel failed to comply with, which is why the file for the expiration of the concession was then initiated.

It is worth remembering that in August 2023, the Government formed by the Canarian Coalition and the Popular Party, led by Fernando Clavijo (CC), awarded the Canary Islands Tourism award to the RIU Oliva Beach hotel, describing it as a “pioneer in the opening of the Canary Islands to the market.” European tourism, with a factor of dynamization and modernity in the Archipelago" and defending that the hotel has contributed to the "development of local employment and the wealth of the Island."

An “unacceptable” recognition, in the words of the environmental organization, which publicly denounced it, since the award-winning establishment “does not comply with the law, occupies a public space and also participates in the deterioration of the protected natural environments of the islands, promoting "mass tourism that preys on our territory, that makes exclusive use of our coasts and degrades them, going beyond any regulations or protection."

For the defense of the territory

This is not the first time in the Canary Islands that a hotel has been demolished for not complying with the law. In 1989, the so-called Hotel Dunas was demolished in the Maspalomas Dunes for illegally occupying this protected space after a 10-year court battle.

Ben Magec – Ecologists in Action reiterates that “our fight is not against RIU, it is not against employment nor it is against progress. Our fight is in defense of the territory and against those who, hiding behind job creation, make exclusive use of our coasts and our protected spaces, bypassing the law and perpetuating an absolutely predatory tourism model that consumes our territory and makes our people precarious.”

For all these reasons, today the environmental organization is celebrating. Because, in his words, “this resolution is the victory of those of us who defend these islands and fight for a sustainable tourism model that is respectful of our environment. We demand from RIU the prompt restitution of the environmental assets of the Corralejo Dunes and, in compliance with the ministerial order, the immediate demolition of the Oliva Beach hotel.”