The 9th Mogán Mango and Avocado Fair will take place on Sunday, September 6, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Avenida de Los Marreros in Playa de Mogán, bringing together the municipality’s agricultural, culinary, and craft sectors in a showcase of local tropical produce.

Following last year’s attendance of 10,000 visitors, the Town Hall expects to exceed that figure in 2026. To accommodate the anticipated turnout, the fair has been moved from the Castillete esplanade to Avenida de Los Marreros. This year’s edition will include 17 farmers’ stalls from the ravines of Veneguera, Mogán, and Arguineguín, along with 13 craft stalls, seven prepared-product stalls, and 12 food stalls. The municipality’s PFAE professional training programme for the restaurant sector will also take part.

During the event, approximately 5,000 kilos of mangoes of different varieties grown in the municipality, such as Hass, Valencia Pride, and Gomera, and about 4,500 kilos of avocados, mainly traditional summer varieties, will be available for purchase. This offering will be complemented by approximately 800 kilos of pineapple, 500 kilos of passion fruit, and nearly 1,000 kilos of pitaya, creating a comprehensive showcase of Mogán’s agricultural production.

The programme will also include seven stalls dedicated to processed products, such as jams, honey, cheese, and bread, together with 13 artisan booths featuring crafts from Mogán and other areas of Gran Canaria. Food stalls will offer pinchos and tapas prepared with mango and avocado as key ingredients.

The 9th Summer Mango and Avocado Fair in Playa de Mogán, scheduled for September 6, offers an opportunity to promote local agriculture while also drawing attention to the challenges facing the avocado market in the Canary Islands. Although the event highlights the value of locally grown produce, consumers and restaurant operators continue to report concerns over price, availability and consistent ripening. Since 1993, strict import restrictions have limited outside supply, a situation that some industry observers say has contributed to higher prices and reduced competitive pressure in the local market.

In response to strong demand and the difficulty of sourcing fruit at optimal ripeness, some hotels have increasingly turned to frozen avocado products. This option allows kitchens to maintain a predictable supply and a more consistent standard for buffets and restaurant service. Industry sources also point to recurring issues with fresh avocados that appear ripe externally but remain firm or unsuitable for immediate use, creating operational challenges for businesses that depend on reliable texture and presentation.

Against this backdrop, the fair organized by the Mogán City Council in collaboration with the Gran Canaria Island Council will take place on the pedestrian promenade of Avenida Los Marrero. The event is intended to celebrate the local agricultural sector and create a space for direct sales between farmers and consumers. Its broader impact, however, will depend on whether it can offer visitors a clear improvement in value, transparency and product quality compared with the conventional market, while reinforcing confidence in locally produced avocados.

The skies over Mogan will have a special event this Wednesday, August 12th. The Moon will begin to pass between the Earth and the Sun at 6:59 PM, and the eclipse will reach its maximum around 7:54 PM. From the south of Gran Canaria, it will be seen as a partial eclipse, while a strip of the Iberian Peninsula will be able to enjoy totality.

In Mogan, the most anticipated moment will arrive when the Sun is barely 10 degrees above the horizon. Astronomical calculations place the magnitude of the eclipse at around 0.747. The final part of the phenomenon will coincide almost exactly with sunset, so locations with a clear view to the west will be the best for viewing it.

The main recommendation is simple: never look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection. Regular sunglasses, no matter how dark or even if they offer UV protection, are not safe for viewing an eclipse. You must use specific solar viewing glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard and are in perfect condition.

The fusion of luxury hotel offerings and the cultural revitalization of the island find one of its finest examples in southern Gran Canaria. The Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Mogán has firmly established its Art Blu Project, a strategic cultural initiative designed to open the hotel’s doors wide to local artistic talent, transforming the resort’s facilities into a vibrant exhibition space open to both international guests and the local community.

This support for local creativity within a top-tier tourist environment responds to the need to provide vacation stays with a distinctive and authentic experience. Through this program, the hotel offers its common areas to showcase creators from diverse disciplines such as painting and photography, allowing visitors to discover the cultural richness and artistic sensibility of Gran Canaria without leaving the resort itself.

The value-added strategy implemented by the hotel under the commercial direction of Alejandro Artiles Taurony seeks to transcend the traditional concept of overnight accommodation and become a truly immersive destination experience. The initiative not only enriches the traveler’s experience through direct contact with the islands’ contemporary art but also reinforces the hotel group’s social commitment to the creative community and the identity of the Mogán region.

Cultural and social sustainability is thus integrated across the daily operations of this five-star hotel, which balances its high international standards with a strong connection to the local area. Actions like this demonstrate how accommodation in southern Gran Canaria can act as a leading economic and cultural driver, promoting a more mature, responsible tourism model that is deeply connected to the realities of its immediate surroundings. The success of initiatives like the Art Blu Project confirms that local culture and talent are key assets for enhancing the destination’s competitiveness and excellence.

Mogán will revive the Arguineguín Popular Race on Saturday, August 8th, returning as the Mogán Sunset Run after six editions held until 2020.

The main race will cover five kilometers, while young people aged 14 to 18 can participate in a 1,600-meter race. The program also includes children’s races of 400 and 800 meters.

The start and finish lines will be located on the pedestrian section of Miguel Marrero Rodríguez Street, next to the main entrance to Las Marañuelas Beach. The course will run along the Arguineguín coastline at sunset.

The event will begin at 7:00 p.m. with music and entertainment. Children aged six to eight will start at 8:00 p.m. to complete 400 meters, followed by participants aged nine to thirteen, who will run 800 meters.

The 1,600-meter race will start at 8:25 p.m., while the main race, for adults only, will begin at 9:00 p.m. and will consist of two laps of a 2.5-kilometer course.

Registration will remain open until August 4th, inclusive. The rules and registration form are available on the Mogán en Movimiento website.

The Carmen Festival in Arguineguín is the town’s big maritime event: mass, maritime procession with the image of the Virgen del Carmen, blessing of boats, open-air dances and Canarian gastronomy by the port.

Arguineguín will celebrate its maritime procession on Sunday, July 19th. At 9:00 a.m., the statue will be taken to the dock, where Mass will be celebrated on the papal stage. Afterward, it will be placed on a boat to travel along the coast to Playa de Mogán, where it will meet its namesake.

Abundant winter rains and less frequent heat waves suggest that the 2026 harvest for the Gran Canaria Protected Designation of Origin will be double that of 2025. Winegrowers in the Gran Canaria have already begun the 2026 harvest, starting, as in recent years, at the Los Azules estate in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. This harvest yielded a similar quantity of grapes to that of 2025, around 340 kilos of white grapes of the Malvasía Volcánica and Albillo Criollo varieties.

The grape harvest, which is now underway, still has a long way to go, as it will continue until approximately mid-October. For example, the grapes from the Monte Lentiscal (Santa Brigida) area will be picked at the end of August, while those from the summit and San Mateo areas will be harvested at the end of September and beginning of October.

The abundant rainfall last winter and the fewer heat waves so far this summer point to a much larger harvest in terms of kilos than last year’s, which isn’t surprising given that the 2025 harvest was the worst since records began. It yielded around 170,000 kilos of grapes, less than half of the previous year’s, due to the drought and heat that prevailed.

It is estimates that the 2026 harvest will double the previous year’s production, reaching between 300,000 and 400,000 kilos, among the 250 associated winegrowers, provided the weather conditions remain favorable.

Unlike other islands in the archipelago, such as Lanzarote, this year’s Gran Canaria harvest is not expected to be earlier than usual, generally due to the heat and faster fruit ripening.

While the 2026 harvest is expected to be much better, the expectations for the 2027 harvest are even more optimistic because the drought of previous years is still affecting the production of many vines, and some plantings established in recent years in different parts of the island will not begin to bear fruit until then.

The events will take place from July 14 to September 19 in Arguineguín, Playa de Mogán, and other locations within the municipality.

Mogán will host eight events between July 14 and September 19, including fitness, running, open water swimming, swimrun, and children’s sports.

The schedule kicks off on July 14 with “Your Best Sunset” in Arguineguín, featuring boxing exhibitions and free classes in training, yoga, and stretching. Following this, the Summer Games will bring together 24 teams on July 17 and 18, while the Kids’ Games will be held on July 25 with ten groups of adults and children. Registration for both events is now closed.

On the other hand, the 18th Eufemiano Verde Mogán Beach–Taurito–Mogán Beach Open Water Swim will take place on August 1st, with a main race of 2,400 meters and children’s races. The deadline to register is July 22nd.

The Mogán Sunset Run will cover five kilometers along the Arguineguín coast on August 8th, with adult and children’s categories. Registration will remain open until the 4th. On August 9th, El Perchel beach will host the third edition of Canary Combat for goalkeepers from Pre-Benjamin to Junior categories.

Finally, the Anfi Gran Canaria Mogán Swim Run will take place on September 5th with a 9.1-kilometer course between Anfi del Mar and Arguineguín, divided between swimming and running. And on September 19th, the first Acebuches Trail Kids, aimed at children, will be held.

The Las Palmas Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businesses Defends Legal Certainty and Tax Fairness Following the Annulment of the Tourist Tax.

The Las Palmas Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businesses (FEHT) has expressed its satisfaction with the ruling that annuls the overnight tourist tax approved by the Mogán City Council. This decision supports the legal and substantive arguments maintained by the business association since the beginning of the proceedings.

This court decision is also good news for the sector and for the Canary Islands population in general, who were also negatively impacted by the increased costs resulting from this tax when enjoying hotels and other accommodation establishments in the archipelago.

The FEHT emphasizes that its appeal was never intended as an institutional confrontation, but rather as a response to the need to defend legal certainty and fairness in the tax burden borne by the sector.

The Federation understood from the outset that the measure created by the council could not be considered a fee in the legal sense, but rather acted materially as a tax, since it levied a charge on the mere overnight stay in tourist establishments without any specific public service being provided to justify the charge.

However, the creation of new taxes falls under the purview of the legislature (national or regional) and cannot be assumed by local administrations. The FEHT also points out that the tourism sector is already the main contributor to the maintenance of public services in the Canary Islands.

Through the economic activity it generates and, in particular, through the collection of the IGIC (Canary Islands General Indirect Tax), tourism contributes a very significant portion (around 40%) of the public revenue that subsequently funds the Autonomous Community, the island councils, and the municipalities each year.

Specifically, accommodation in tourist establishments is already subject to a 7% IGIC, a tax paid by tourists visiting the Islands as well as by Canary Island residents themselves.

Therefore, the Federation maintains that it is inappropriate to establish mechanisms that impose double taxation on an economic activity that already bears a tax burden and that, moreover, generates tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and constitutes the main support of the Canary Islands’ economy.

The specific overnight stay tax was a clear example of double taxation on the same item, to the detriment of the sector’s competitiveness and also of Canary Islanders themselves who wish to stay in the Islands’ establishments, insofar as they also had to pay the tax now annulled by the High Court of Justice.

The tourism employers’ association reiterates its full willingness to collaborate with all public administrations to continue improving the quality of tourist destinations, strengthen their sustainability, and guarantee public services commensurate with the importance of tourism for the Canary Islands.

For example, the FEHT (Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businesses) has already expressed its support for implementing fees for visiting the islands’ natural areas, a measure justified by the provision of specific services during these visits and aimed at raising the necessary funds for their proper conservation and management.

For tourism businesses, these shared objectives must be achieved while respecting the current legal framework and through ongoing dialogue between institutions and the business sector.

The Maspalomas Gran Canaria Consortium is promoting the first phase of improvements to the GC-500 between the roundabout accessing El Hornillo-Meloneras and the Pasito Blanco interchange. This project will transform nearly one kilometer of this road into a more accessible, safer environment adapted to sustainable mobility. The project is now open for tender with a base budget of €2,447,670.49 and includes new bike lanes, continuous sidewalks, rest areas, improvements to street lighting, and two new roundabouts.

The project involves the redevelopment of approximately one kilometer of the GC-500 road, maintaining the existing roadway for vehicular traffic and incorporating new infrastructure to promote walking and cycling.

Among the main planned works are the construction of two new roundabouts to improve connections with future urbanized areas, as well as the construction of continuous sidewalks on both sides of the road and the creation of separate bike lanes.

The project also includes new pedestrian crossings, rest areas next to bus stops, installation of street furniture, bicycle parking, signage, pergolas, and a renewed public lighting system.

In addition, the project will incorporate technical work aimed at improving the safety and durability of the infrastructure, such as drainage improvements, resurfacing, pipe installation, retaining walls, and adaptation of the spaces to the existing environment.

During the construction, traffic diversions and perimeter fencing will be implemented to ensure the safety of users and minimize disruption to traffic on this section of the GC-500.

The project will be financed by the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council and carried out by the Maspalomas Gran Canaria Consortium as part of the accessibility and mobility improvement plan. The estimated completion time is approximately eight months from the date of the site survey verification report.

In addition to economic criteria, the tender will consider proposals that reduce the execution time and incorporate improvements to the road surface. Interested companies have until Tuesday, August 4, at 12:59 a.m. to submit their bids through the State Procurement Platform.