A report from Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife warns of the increase in holiday homes in the part of the Anaga Rural Park belonging to the municipality
The spokesperson for Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Aitor Montelongo, pointed out that one of the main consequences of this touristification is “mobility issues,” exacerbated by “limited public transport that becomes overcrowded with visitors.”
Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife recently compiled a report on the situation of holiday homes in the Anaga Rural Park — based on data from the Government of the Canary Islands — concluding that in the settlements belonging to the municipality within the Park there are already 399 places in officially registered holiday homes.
The most affected areas are coastal, particularly Taganana and its nearby settlements, which already host 50 holiday homes and 222 places; for a population estimated at around 500 people. This means that the places in holiday homes in this area are nearly equivalent to half the population.
Other settlements that also host a significant number of holiday homes include Almáciga, Benijo, El Draguillo, Chamorga, Lomo de Las Bodegas, Roque Bermejo, and La Cumbrilla, where the figure rises to 25 holiday homes and 98 places.
Moreover, the report warns that a significant percentage of holiday homes in the Canary Islands offered on digital platforms lack licenses, so the number of tourist homes in the settlements of the Anaga Rural Park belonging to Santa Cruz de Tenerife is likely to be higher.
After presenting these data, the spokesperson for Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Aitor Montelongo, explained that “we are not against neighbours using their lifelong homes to earn extra income,” but he emphasised that “the problem lies with individuals or companies that buy multiple homes to speculate on them and use them as a business.”
In this regard, Montelongo indicated that this gradual conversion of Anaga’s homes into holiday rentals “generates all sorts of problems” and noted that the most common complaint from residents is the deterioration of mobility, “more and more rental cars are arriving, and there is hardly any parking available,” he pointed out.
“And this mobility problem is tolerated by the institutions — the spokesperson for Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife continued — who constantly promote Anaga as a tourist attraction,” adding that “public transport is limited and becomes overrun with visitors, there is only one bus with very infrequent service, which often leaves residents stranded,” and he added that “the proposal from residents, in addition to increasing frequencies, is to reserve a quota of seats on the buses for locals.”
In this context, the spokesperson for Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife mentioned that they recently met with residents of Taganana and Benijo, who expressed “the frustration of watching their village lose its identity and the degradation of natural spaces,” concluded Montelongo.
In response to this reality, Drago Santa Cruz de Tenerife is considering several strategic lines to address the situation: implementing a moratorium on holiday homes, limiting rental cars, conducting a population load study, and reinforcing the frequency of public buses while prioritising their use by residents.
