What’s new (and green) in Tenerife

The island of Tenerife is a firm favourite with visitors from the UK and receives 45% of the total number of British tourists that holiday in the Canaries. So far in 2007 Tenerife has welcomed a total of 1.3 million visitors to the island and enjoys a staggering 80% repeat clientele with 31.4% of them staying in 5* hotels.

A major highlight of 2007 will be Tenerife hosting the ABTA Travel Convention, particularly as it will be 10 years since the last ABTA convention was welcomed to the island. This year’s event will be taking place at the stunning Magma Arts and Congress Centre in Costa Adeje.

Green issues and sustainable tourism are of global interest and Tenerife has shown its commitment to this both in the private and public sector with a number of initiatives including;

• The popularity of Tenerife has meant an increase in the demand for water, the Government has introduced several purification, recycling and desalination projects, at an investment of over 265 million euros without compromising the quality of the environment.
• The island is also working on the need for increased waste management using the principle of the 3 R’s and the 3 M’s: “Reduction, Recycling and Reutilisation” and “Maintenance (of the Compost Plant), Modernisation (of the Urban Waste Transfer Plants) and Management (of the six Clean Points).
• As far back as 1990, the Island’s government has promoted the usage of renewable energies and currently have three active wind farms that generate an annual energy production of 35 GWh. It would take 9450 tonnes of fuel-oil to generate the same energy which in turn would produce 39,200 tonnes of CO2 Carbon dioxide emissions annually.
• To cut down on carbon emissions Tenerife has developed a superb bus network which links the north and the south of the island passing through most of the main tourist attractions and Santa Cruz has seen the inauguration of its new tram system linking La Laguna with the capital.
• Tenerife is one of the top whale-watching locations in the world nearly 10% of visitors to the island enjoy this activity which has been regulated since 1995 through a code of conduct and surveillance programme. 19 of the 79 global species of cetacean have been sighted in the waters of Tenerife and there are permanent colonies of tropical pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins that call the waters of the south of Tenerife home.

Tenerife is very proud of the fact that half of the island is National Park or Nature Reserve. The Teide National Park was declared a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in July 2007 in celebration of its unique volcanic ecosystem, making Tenerife’s volcano, Mount Teide, a world-class wonder.

Sustainable tourism is not just about preserving our environment and landscape but also preserving our cultural heritage and history on the island. Tenerife offers an abundance of culture; our historical architecture, popular festivals and art galleries and museums that feature all aspects of the island - historic, archaeological, anthropological, scientific and artistic.

Exciting events for 2008 include:

• The opening of Siam Park which will be the biggest water theme park in Europe
• New Industry Web page for Tenerife Tourism -webtenerife.com has developed an Industrial Tourism zone where travel agents and tour operators can gain access to all relevant information for their clients. The website welcomed a million hits in 2006 and they predict double the number for 2007
• Tenerife Carnival held each year in February in Santa Cruz. It is the most celebrated and vibrant celebration in the Festival Calendar and Europe’s biggest street party. Said to be second only to Rio in size and glamour. This year’s theme is Magic and rumour has it that Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) himself will be one of the judges.
• Ladies Open Golf Championship will once again take place and attracts some of the best players in Europe.