Tourist hotspots across the Canary Islands are “on the brink of collapse” after visitor numbers to national parks more than doubled in just four years. New data shows 8.4 million people visited the region’s four national parks in 2024 – up from 3.3 million in 2020 when pandemic restrictions were in place.
Experts say the huge rise is putting serious pressure on some of the most fragile landscapes in Spain. Teide National Park in Tenerife is the most visited natural site in the country, but conservationists say it’s now under extreme strain. Scientists have already recorded a 28% loss in the island’s native retama del Teide shrub, and say it’s partly caused by tourists straying off marked trails, as well as overgrazing and rising temperatures.
Illegal plant collection, crowding, and traffic issues have also been reported, with some calling for urgent action to protect the environment.
Eustaquio Villalba from the Tenerife environmental group ATAN, said: “The pressure on our national parks is unsustainable.
“The parks exist to conserve nature, not to serve as theme parks for mass tourism.”
According to the Canarian Weekly, the Teide management plan has set a limit of 14,303 visitors a day, or around 5.2 million per year.
But that figure has already been surpassed, with experts saying the current system is failing.
Mr Villalba added that proposals to introduce a €25 (£21.70) visitor fee and limit car access “don’t address the real problem” and risk turning the park into a “theme park”.
He and others are calling for stricter visitor caps and better public transport options to ease congestion.
Elsewhere in the archipelago, Timanfaya in Lanzarote is suffering from long queues and overflowing car parks, while Garajonay in La Gomera and Caldera de Taburiente in La Palma are battling traffic and safety concerns.
Juana Barber, president of EUROPARC-Spain, warned that national parks are now seen as “global brands” where people “come for the photo, not the experience”.
She said: “We can’t keep growing like this, the territory simply can’t take it. We have to accept that not everyone can go everywhere, all the time.”
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