“The lack of parking in the South and especially in tourist areas is incredible. Large shopping centers have been built and everything is directed so that people park and consume in them, but what about the small businesses that we also have to live with? Supermarkets cannot take our lives away”.
It is the complaint of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Playa de Las Américas and Costa Adeje (Aepaca), which is “fed up” with a problem that, it says, has a negative impact on a sector that demands solutions. “We are trying to get ahead in fits and starts after the pandemic and this issue hurts us a lot,” says the group. “Of course, more public parking areas are needed. There are no places to leave your car, unless you go to Siam Mall, Leroy Merlin, etc., and the car parks in the centers where tourism is concentrated are very expensive. It cannot be that a person goes to make a purchase and they charge almost four euros for a couple of hours, that is a savagery, ”Víctor Sánchez, president of Aepaca, told this newspaper.
In his opinion, the current parking deficit would be corrected in part with mechanisms aimed at encouraging the rotation of vehicles parked on public roads: “I keep asking myself why they don’t install the blue zone, which is something that is working in other areas of the Island.
The business manager defends pedestrian areas, although he warns that “not everyone likes to walk while the sun shines on your face”, so he sees it necessary, he insists, “more car parks and temporary parking lots”.
The president of the Circle of Entrepreneurs of the South of Tenerife, Roberto Ucelay, recognizes that the lack of parking in the South is a “very important problem”, as well as the “complicated connectivity” to circulate in tourist areas. “It is given by the pedestrianization of many streets, which has been reducing parking spaces and mobility. We have been discussing it for a long time and a solution has not yet been found,” said Ucelay.
The leader of the southern employers also referred to another “very serious problem” that affects many motorists in the region: traffic congestion around the Guaza mountain. “We are still waiting for a solution to the large traffic jams that form every morning and every afternoon between Guaza and Los Cristianos, which is causing serious damage to residents, workers and the tourism sector in general,” he said.
Antonio González, president of the businessmen of Arona, attributes the parking deficit to “little or no” urban planning. “It is not a new issue, we have been dealing with this problem for more than 20 years,” he said.
The also president of the Federation of Commerce of the Canary Islands (Fedeco) defended the pedestrian zones, but he misses the fact that “they do not have parking lots and even emergency corridors for any evacuation.”
