At Teide and Anaga, as well as the Jameos del Agua or the Cueva de los Verdes. Tenerife will apply a similar model to the one that has been in place in Lanzarote for 50 years, charging a fee to visitors for accessing the protected natural spaces of the island. The president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, announced yesterday that the system the corporation is working on involves granting a 100% discount to island residents, while other Canary Islands visitors will have to pay at least a portion of the entrance fee. Currently, nothing has been defined regarding the financial aspect of a measure whose first step will be the motion presented tomorrow in the April plenary session by the governing CC and PP group, in which they hope for unanimous support from the rest of the political forces. The document requests the island services to carry out an in-depth study regarding this option.
A fee to access protected (and fragile) natural spaces in Tenerife. This is the essence of initiating a legal, administrative, and technical process to establish it. In a first phase, in the Teide National Park and in the Anaga and Teno Rural Parks, including Masca, although the goal is to expand it to other areas of the island’s geography yet to be determined.
System
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The intention is to structure a model similar to that of Lanzarote with the charging of foreign or national tourists, full discount for island residents, and a partial discount for the rest of the Canary Islanders. Rosa Dávila emphasizes that “it is not about collecting revenue, but about valuing our natural heritage jewels”. The fee is earmarked and the funds raised will be used for the conservation of these spaces as well as providing them with the best possible visitor services.
Carrying Capacity
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The requested report must also define the carrying capacity of the spaces where access restrictions are intended and a mobility plan similar to the police reinforcement during Easter in the Anaga Biosphere Reserve. This is precisely the characteristic to be wielded in order to apply the fee in the Teide National Park, the most visited in Europe with 4.5 million people per year. Hence, the Cabildo, which will proceed directly without waiting for what the Canary Islands Government may propose in this regard, has already contacted the Ministry to inform them of the measure, which will most likely be approved on Friday at the plenary session. According to Dávila, this was done through a letter to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, in order to amend the national parks law and thus be able to implement an access fee.
Natural Monuments
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“The plan is to introduce an eco-tax for charging visitors and tourists, but not residents, as well as control and limit access to our natural monuments because it is also positive for domestic and island-based tourism to value Tenerife’s natural assets,” explains Rosa Dávila in statements to EL DÍA. “We are already working with the Tax Consortium and the Natural Environment department,” adds the president, “and looking for mechanisms because each natural space is different. The most important one being the Teide National Park.” She recalls that the vice president and also Tourism councillor, the popular Lope Afonso, already hinted, just a few months after the start of the current term (2023-2027), at the intention to analyze the possibility of charging.”
The Timanfaya National Park turns 50. Since its establishment in 1974, visitors have been charged an entrance fee, a measure that has not prevented people from flocking there and causing overcrowding. Just this week, the Lanzarote Cabildo, which manages it through the CACT (Centres of Art, Culture, and Tourism), anticipates that it is preparing a pre-booking central to ease congestion. Yesterday, on the 105th anniversary of the birth of the Lanzarote genius César Manrique (1919-1992), queues of up to two hours were seen again to access the Montaña del Fuego, on the Islote de Hilario, or double the daily number of vehicles set by the Use and Management Plan (PRUG) – it seems that the new one for Teide is still pending in some office drawer –: 90 cars and 8 buses. Timanfaya charges entrance fees to both foreigners and residents, with discounts available to Canarians and those from Lanzarote. The entrance fees do not contribute to conservation, as the park is financed through public funds via taxes. Timanfaya welcomed around 1.5 million visitors in 2022. Since 2010, there has been a proposal to remove private vehicles and only allow access by bus. In the Island of the Volcanoes, there are other spaces where entrance fees are also charged, such as the Cueva de los Verdes or the Jameos del Agua.
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