Attractions Tenerife

The island of Tenerife will be the first of the Canary Islands to offer a weekly direct flight to Ukraine beginning on June 3 and running until the end of October.

Specifically, Tenerife will offer one flight a week to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.  This flight joins other new connectionsthat are being opened between the island and the countries of Eastern Europe, such as those recently opened with with Liubliana (Slovenia) and Vilnius (Lithuania).

In this regard,José Manuel Bermúdez, the oficial in charge of tourism for the town council of Tenerife, emphasized in a press releasethe importance” that the island “is establishing itself in these new markets which, just like the Russian market, have great potential for growth in Tenerife, since  ”the island is viewed as an exotic destinationand relatively nearby, compared to other more distant destinations such as the  Caribbean”.

He added that this ”is yet another indication of the great popularity Tenerife enjoys in those countries which are leaders in bringing tourists to the Canaries,

The flight betweenTenerife and Ukraine is operated by  Kiev Voyages (of the TUI group) and Viajes Arturo, which will offer space for 170 passengers.  The nonstop flight will leave every Friday from the Ukrainian capital at 1330 and will arrive at Tenerife South at 1830.

Plans call for the flight to continue beyond October, if the occupancy rate during the entire year meets expectations.

The connection with Kiev joins the flight between Tenerife and Liubliana, operating since February with 140 seats, which will continue until the end of April.  The current occupancy rate is around 80%, and, if these figures can be maintained, the flight will continue operating until summer.

A flight operating since February between the island and Lithuania would also be part of this offering.  This flight, connecting Tenerife and Vilnius, the capital, is operated once weekly by Star Holidays.It offers space for 142 pasengers and will operate at least until October although plans call for its continuation until the end of the year.

The 79,000 travelers from Eastern Europe constitute 1.7% of the 4.7 million who visited Tenerife  in 2009.

This Thursday, Queen Sofia presented the 2009 Reina Sofia award to the municipality of  Arona on the island of Tenerife  for its work in improving accessibility for the disabled.  José Alberto González Reverón, mayor of the municipality, accepted the award, which was also won by the National Hospital for Paraplegics of Toledo, among Spanish entries, and the DISCAR foundation of Argentina, among foreign entries, in the  Rehabilitation and Integration category.  The city councils of Hacinas (Burgos), ,Santander, Baños de Agua Santa (Ecuador) and Evigado  (Colombia) also were recognized for their efforts in improving  accessibility.

Trinidad Jiménez, Minister of Health and Social Policy, and José María Barreda, President of Castilla – La Mancha, participated in the awards ceremony.  Both expressed their gratitude to Queen Sofia for her presence in the ceremony, because, as the minister affirmed, it demonstrates her “well-known concern for the most vulnerable people”, as well as her “permanent commitment” to the Royal Foundation on  Disability, the agency that organizes these awards.

Jiménez emphasized  the “efforts”  of the central government to achieve “a society that fully integrates handicapped people”, although, as he recognized,  ”we are aware there is still much to be done.”.

The death of a loro Park orcas coach during the training session with the animals has been identifying as Alexis Martínez and, according to the Zoo, is believed that the drowning is the most probable cause of its death, since he remained various minutes under the water.

The orcas were incorporated to the park in 2006.  Loro Park has diffused a communiqué in which indicates that the accident occurred during the first training session in the stadium Orca Ocean, in which were participating seven coaches as usual.

Alexis Martínez recibed medical attention immediately by the Loro Park specialized staff and the emergency services.  After the cardio revival efforts, he was transferred by an ambulance to the hospital, where he had a cardio-respiratory stop and subsequently, passed away.

This event has caused an enormous pain among all the Loro Park staff, and the spectacle of orcas has been suspended temporarily in sign of sorrow.  Loro Park spokeman affirms that Alexis Martínez Hernández was “an excellent and experienced coach “, that worked in Parrot Park since 2004. He wa 29 years old.

There was no autopsy, but the medical team that attended Alexis pointed out the drowning as the most probable cause of the death, since the orca kept the coach minutes under the water.