The volcanic eruption on La Palma, which has lasted for three weeks, keeps the 85,000 residents of the small Canary Island still excited. After the northern flank of the volcanic cone in the Cumbre Vieja mountain range collapsed last Saturday, unaffected areas of land were covered by lava. However, the area had long been evacuated. The lava now covers around 500 hectares of the island, and a current has made it to the sea, where dangerous gases can develop. 1200 buildings have been destroyed to date, 6000 people had to be brought to safe places, no one has been harmed so far.
Meanwhile, the flight operations that had been discontinued last week at the island airport were resumed, like the Operating company Aena announced.
Although only a small part of the island is affected, the volcanic eruption has had an impact on tourism. Between 60 and 80 percent of the bookings for October were canceled, said Spanish MEP José Ramón Bauzá, the Europa Press news agency. The tourism officer of La Palma, Raúl Camacho, tried to dispel concerns: “La Palma is a safe island, on which only ten percent of the area is affected by the volcano, and the travel connections are safe.” Due to the smoke and ash column reaching up to 3.5 kilometers, airlines had to cancel some flights last week. This can be necessary again at any time. La Palma can also be reached in a four-hour ferry ride from Tenerife.
German tour operators react flexibly to the daily changing situation. For example, the organizer Wikinger Reisen keeps a planned departure of a hiking group to La Palma this Thursday. “The situation is dynamic,” says Viking spokeswoman Eva-Machill-Linnenberg, “but as of today the group is flying there because the airport is operating normally”. The vast majority of guests did not want to rebook or cancel. The hiking tours have been adapted to the situation, because there are many hiking opportunities all over the island. There are still some trips to La Palma planned in autumn and winter. “We now look every day to see what is possible.”
The Federal Foreign Office advises against traveling, but there is no travel warning
The organizer Studiosus, however, has rescheduled a round trip, which should also lead to La Palma on October 25th, so that the guests spend three days on Tenerife instead. A trip planned for the beginning of November with a one-week stay on the island could not be carried out “due to the damage to the infrastructure and the many restricted zones”, wrote the organizer. Because of possible poisonous gases and ash rain, the Foreign Office currently advises against unnecessary tourist trips to La Palma. However, this is not a travel warning that generally allows trips to be canceled for free. Otherwise you can only do this if the execution of the trip is “significantly” impaired, i.e. larger parts of the booked vacation cannot be carried out.
Since the island is mainly visited for nature and hiking trips and not for swimming, it does not play a decisive role for large tour operators. Their offers on the large neighboring islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura will be in high demand, especially for the coming winter, said Tui, for example. But even now in autumn there are many bookings regardless of the volcanic eruption.