The vice president and advisor of Tourism of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Lope Afonso, this Monday, opened the door to implementing a fee for accessing the National Park of Teide in order to help conserve the environment and regulate visitor flows.
“It is an approach that must be seriously evaluated, it does not seem absurd to me.“, he indicated in an interview given to ‘Radio Club Tenerife’ and reported by Europa Press in which he acknowledged that it is already practiced in other tourist destinations.
Afonso has pointed out that “It is not a question of improvisation” but of opening a “calm debate” but at the same time, it indicates that it must be studied “quickly.” so that it could come into force throughout 2024.
The vice president understands that It is an “opportunity” to improve the experience for visitors and obtain additional income to reinvest in the park itselfand does not hide that the decision was already on the table during the processing of the Teide PRUG.
“It is an approach that must be seriously evaluated, it does not seem absurd to me” to charge to enter the Teide National Park
Residents will pay
Thus, he has indicated that These jobs are going to be “resumed”, while he has stressed that it is difficult to make “exemptions” in payment for residents although their use will have to be “qualified”.
Afonso has also said that ““It is not the same” to charge a fee for access to the park as a general ecotax “without opportunity criteria and knowing that it can reduce the competitiveness of the destination” and when the autonomous community has had to return money because it has not had the capacity to carry out tourism infrastructure works.
In that sense, he commented that it is better to “exercise” current powers and “not open melons” such as the ecotax.
