anaga residents protest tourist overcrowding tenerife

Residents Protest Tourist Overcrowding in Tenerife’s Anaga

Anaga residents protest against tourist saturation

Residents and representatives from various community groups demonstrated in Anaga, Tenerife, this Saturday to denounce the daily collapse of traffic and visitor numbers in this protected natural space. The Anaga massif is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, recognised for its exceptional biodiversity. Protesters gathered at Cruz del Carmen carrying banners with slogans such as “Anaga is saturated”, “Anaga is not for sale, Anaga is defended”, “Unlimited overexploitation”, and “SOS Anaga”.

Unsustainable pressure on a rural community

The demonstrators sought to highlight that while 1,500 people live in this area, it was visited by more than 1.8 million tourists in 2025. The platform ‘Canarias Tiene un Límite’ (The Canary Islands Have a Limit), which supported the mobilisation called by residents of the Rural Park, lamented that the situation is unsustainable. They reported roads blocked by cars and tourist coaches, vehicles parked on verges, and difficulties even for the passage of ambulances or school transport.

Inadequate public transport for locals

Residents also complained about the lack of regular public bus services in the zone. They stated there are only four buses a day, which arrive full of tourists. This forces elderly residents to either be left behind or travel standing due to lack of space, according to reports shared on social media by the Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature. “There are queues here every single day,” warned one local resident, who threatened to block the roads to La Laguna and Santa Cruz de Tenerife to force the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo) to address the issue and regulate access to Anaga.

A call for limits, not a theme park

The organisers reminded authorities that the place they live in is a Rural Park, not a theme park. They warned that continually increasing visitor numbers without establishing clear limits only deepens the saturation problems already being experienced in many parts of the Canary Islands archipelago.

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