There’s a new discount and loyalty card available across the 7 Canary Islands, and this one doesn’t have the usual sting in the tail. As the latest promotional effort, Promotur, the tourism agency for the Gobierno (government for all the islands) has come up with a free pack aimed at tourists, that contains discounts for 2,000 Canarian outlets.

The idea is you fill in a questionaire about your holiday and previous trips to the islands and your card is activated. Along with the card, there is a map and a booklet listing all the outlets and what they are offering. The holder and their “companian” can both use the card and each time they do, a point is credited to their account number. At some stage in the future, a catalogue will be issued showing gifts that the points can earn you.

Okay, that’s the deal, is it any good? Firstly I must say I came across it at a tourist information centre, I haven’t seen it mentioned in any media outlets, I assume it will be pushed at airports etc as well. All the info is in Spanish, German and English and there is a website www.turismodecanarias.com and a phone number 902105480. Most of the discounts are about 5 or 10 per cent but some are little extras, like a free vehicle upgrade on car hire. It’s a good idea, it’s always good to see the government making some effort to help business’s in these lean times.

I’m a bit concerned that I haven’t seen any posters or mention of it in the media, but maybe that will follow. Please don’t let it turn out like the banana idea last year when tourists arriving in Tenerife were supposed to get a little pack of bananas on arrival with some information sheets concerning a new helpline, it never happened in the end, apparently because the phoneline was hardly used – maybe because no one knew about it. It’s also a bit worrying that the card is free as part of a “launch promotion” the pack it came in had 10 euros marked on it, can’t see anyone forking out 10 euros without knowing any of the outlets.

Anyway, brushing aside my natural cynicism, more power to the tourism department, it’s going to be a tough year for many business’s and anything that can help will be very welcome.