Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Summer Arrives with A Heatwave
Summer officially begins today and boy is it making its presence felt. The first day of summer is accompanied by a heatwave and predicted temperatures of 34C+. The Spanish Meteorological Office (AEMET) have stated that spring temperatures have been warmer than average and predict that summer ones are going to be a couple of degrees hotter than in recent years. There is a yellow alert currently in place for high temperatures on Tenerife. Whilst sizzling sunny weather might sound like just the ticket for anyone escaping disappointing weather in the UK, remember to take sensible precautions so you don’t end up looking like something on a revolving stick in a kebab shop.
Michael Bolton Tickets on Sale
We were starting to doubt that it was going to actually take place, but today the tickets for the Michael Bolton/Kenny G concert in Costa Adeje finally went on sale. Tickets are €30, €45, €85 and €120 and are available via the official website or at the outlets listed on the website. With just over two weeks until the concert, it”ll be interesting to see how the organisers” ‘strategy’ of leaving it till the last minute works out.
Massive Boost in Tourist Figures So Why Does it seem Quiet ?
A recent visitor to Tenerife made this observation on the travel site TripAdvisor after returning to Blighty. “We have been travelling to Tenerife on and off for the last 30 years and every year for the past 10 years and have never known it so quiet,’
However, official figures reveal that compared to last year, there has been a 23.5% increase in visitors to Tenerife in the period from the start of the year until May. There are suggestions that holiday trends are changing with more and more people customising their holidays to suit their personal preferences by booking component parts of their holiday package online. Subsequently apartment bookings are increasing as are other types of accommodation (e.g. rural). Why this should make some areas appear “quieter’ is debatable. People who stay in apartments might be less likely to go out to bars as often as in the past and the rise of All Inclusive is also a factor. But it’s always worth remembering that May is historically one of the quietest months on Tenerife, so empty bars at this time are nothing new.
So Who actually Voted?
With Tenerife’s poltical parties scrambing to make pact after pact to hold on to power after the recent local elections it was interesting to analyse the ongoing results of a survey in the El Dia newspaper. The survey asked readers to vote for the political parties they would prefer to see making a pact with each other to determine who would govern the Canary Islands. The result so far is interesting…and curious. Whilst in actuality Coalición Canaria seem to figure in most post-election pacts, a huge 57% of the 1900+ people (a significant number in statistical terms) in the poll opted for a Partido Popular/Partido Socialista pact. Simply put 57% didn’t want Coalición Canaria to figure. The big question then is, who actually voted for them? Possibly not people who read the newspapers. That might explain a lot.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to…The Decision to Demolish the Church in Alcalá
Work this week started on the demolition of Alcalá’s church, an event which newspaper reports say have divided the town. Some of the population want the old church repaired and some want it torn down and a new one built in its place.
It looks as though the latter group have got their wish. However, this is Tenerife and in Tenerife there is always a but. Although work has started to demolish the church, the treasurer of the diocese has said that there is no money to build a new one. It begs the question why begin the process when you know that you can’t complete it? The answer given is simply that the old church was in a dangerous condition.
Apart from pulling down a church when you don’t have the money to replace it there’s another worrying aspect to this story. Why not renovate the old church? It is 120 years old after all. It’s been claimed that it has no historical value. On an island whose oldest building is just over 500 years young and most of its buildings are only decades old, a 120 year old church seems pretty historic. It’s not the first time that there has been a desire to tear down the old to put up something new. It’s time that Tenerife woke up to the fact that ‘new and shiny’ doesn’t always mean better. Protect your heritage before there’s nothing left to protect.
