Anaga Rural Park, a nature reserve in Tenerife, has approved a motion to limit daily tourist numbers in a bid to protect its fragile ecosystem and natural heritage.
Carmen Peña, councillor for San Cristobal de la Laguna, is behind the initiative, which was recently approved by the council with broad support across the political spectrum. This rare consensus reflects a growing awareness of the need for more sustainable tourism in protected natural areas. The motion highlights the growing pressure on the ecosystem of the Anaga Rural Park and calls for urgent action.
Peña pointed out that the master plan for the use and management of the park requires the council to take proactive measures. She called on the island’s governing body, the Cabildo de Tenerife, to put in place the necessary infrastructure and mechanisms to enforce the motion and limit the number of daily visitors. The ultimate aim is to strike a balance between the benefits of tourism and the preservation of local life and traditional use of the land.
As a first step in this direction, the council passed a motion in January to restrict access for large coaches to certain areas of the Anaga Rural Park in order to reduce traffic congestion and protect the environment.
The park’s appeal lies in its uniqueness, with breathtaking views of rugged mountains converging with the Atlantic, and trails leading to secluded black sand beaches such as Benijo. It is renowned for its spectacular volcanic formations, luxuriant prehistoric laurel forests and extraordinary biodiversity, including rare plants, hundreds of species of endemic invertebrates – unique in the world – and protected bird species such as the Laurel Pigeon. It also includes 26 traditional villages scattered across the landscape, where the inhabitants live by ancestral farming methods.
More than 4.36 million international tourists visited the Canary Islands in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 2.1% over the same period last year. Tenerife was the leading destination with more than 6.2 million international visitors, with more than 1.55 million tourists landing on the island’s shores in March alone.
If Brazil received as many tourists as Tenerife, it would have hosted 29 billion visitors in one year, nearly 4 times the world’s population. pic.twitter.com/HmvsyTKWxb
— Xavi Ruiz (@xruiztru) May 14, 2025
Despite the economic benefits of tourism, this increase has raised concerns among local residents, echoing trends elsewhere in Spain and abroad. Issues such as rising housing costs, water shortages, poor working conditions, environmental degradation and pressure on infrastructure have been highlighted. In April, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demand stricter regulations, with banners reading ‘The Canaries have a limit’.
In response, the Cabildo de Tenerife announced the creation of an online reservation system for some of the trails in the Teide National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. While measures such as the eco-tax and traffic restrictions mark a shift towards sustainable tourism, the latest motion, if fully implemented, could become the cornerstone of all future regulations and potentially redefine the tourism model in this ecologically fragile part of Tenerife.
