anaga rural park tourism protest traffic tenerife

Anaga Residents Protest Tourism Overcrowding and Traffic Chaos

Anaga Residents Protest “Unsustainable” Tourist Overcrowding

Residents of the Anaga Rural Park in Tenerife have called a protest to denounce the overwhelming tourist numbers and daily traffic gridlock in this protected natural space. The call has been backed this Thursday by the environmental collective ‘Canarias Tiene Un Límite’ (The Canary Islands Have a Limit). The protest is scheduled for this Saturday, 14 March, at 11:00 am at the Cruz del Carmen, one of the main access points to the rural park.

Daily Gridlock and Blocked Roads

The primary demand is to highlight a situation which, according to the ecologists, has been going on for years and is now “unsustainable”. They point out that roads are blocked by cars and tourist coaches, with vehicles parked on verges creating enormous difficulties for ambulances and school transport. Residents and environmentalists argue the problem is not limited to occasional congestion, but is due to tourist pressure exceeding the area’s capacity—a consequence of an uncontrolled tourism model in a natural space with limited resources.

A Widespread Archipelago Problem

The collective states this situation is repeated in other parts of the archipelago where, in their view, the constant arrival of visitors is causing the saturation of natural spaces, road collapse, and overloaded infrastructure. ‘Canarias Tiene Un Límite’ insists that park residents have spent years calling on the authorities for measures to relieve tourist pressure, yet no effective solutions have been adopted by institutions such as the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo) or the town halls of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

Ineffective Measures and Broken Promises

In their opinion, the current tourism model does not consider the territorial limits of the archipelago nor the carrying capacity of its natural spaces, which is affecting both the environment and residents’ quality of life. One measure adopted by the Tenerife Cabildo was to mandate that from 2025, tourist coaches circulating in the park must be 1.2 metres shorter than before—a measure that has proven ineffective as the gridlock has not improved. The Director of the Natural Environment Department of the Tenerife Cabildo, Pedro Millán, himself acknowledged in 2024 that “in Anaga there is more tourism and that overcrowding of natural spaces entails a growing impact.” Despite this, access for tourist or rental vehicles—the main traffic clogging the verges and parking areas—has not been limited.

This February, the PSOE party in the Cabildo again denounced the collapse in this green lung of Tenerife, calling the situation unsustainable for residents. The Socialists alleged that the Cabildo “has lied to the faces of the residents of Anaga” about measures to tackle the traffic chaos, as the governing group promised measures and works that have not been carried out. They consequently announced they would take the matter to committee to demand a clear action timetable.

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