Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
Visitors to Tenerife’s Tourist Offices Increase 50% in 3 Years
Tenerife’s Tourist Board should be cock-a-hoop with statistics that reveal that 1,021, 228 people visited a Tenerife tourist office in 2011; 50% more than in 2008 and a 5.6% increase on 2010.
What’s interesting is the breakdown of statistics relating to which offices dealt with the most queries for information about the island.
Costa Adeje (83,978) and Playa de las Américas/Los Cristianos (77,479) might receive the lion’s share of tourists to Tenerife but both had fewer visitors to their tourist offices than La Laguna which had the 2nd highest amount of visitors with 86,825. Way out on top with 207,970 visitors was Puerto de la Cruz.
Clean up Santa Cruz with a bit of Graffiti
As one of ten measures designed to give Tenerife’s capital a bit of a springtime spruce up, Santa Cruz council are authorising an area of the city to be given over to free public expression which basically means it can be used for advertising, information posters and as a canvas for graffiti artists. Anyone who’s seen the hoardings opposite the Iglesia de la Concepción will be aware that Santa Cruz boasts some talented street artists and a few more examples of imaginative urban art should add more colour to the city’s streets and maybe even deter wannabe Banksy’s from spraying indiscriminately elsewhere in the capital.
Superheroes in Tenerife
Considering it was carnival week in Tenerife, a touch of the bizarre was quite appropriate. A recent edition of the Marvel comic X-Men Legacy set in Punta Brava in Puerto de la Cruz provided a suitable slice of surrealism. The issue began with a speech bubble proclaiming “punta Brava, Tenerife, 20:48′ and an image of an X-Men superhero standing looking bemused above a lot of unconscious bodies on the streets of Punta Brava. If the X-Man had done any research before coming to Tenerife, he would have known it was probably just the morning after a carnival street party.
Winter training in Tenerife ““ good for a tan, but not a result.
First Newcastle discovered that a winter training break in Tenerife didn’t quite recharge the batteries as planned after they were dumped out of the FA Cup on their return whilst the tabloids were full of accusations about the nature of the ‘training’ that took place. Next up were Swansea who took advantage of our perfect winter climate whilst Stoke, their first opponents after their return from Tenerife, played Valencia… twice. The result? Stoke 2 Swansea 0. Tenerife is perfect as a winter training venue for footballers. But let’s hope whichever football team is next up does the island a favour by actually winning when they return from ‘re-charging their batteries”.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to”¦ Anyone who had a moan about ‘tourists” at carnival.
A couple of Spanish newspaper reports and subsequent comments had a bit of a dig at the amount of tourists at the carnival closing parade in Santa Cruz. Mostly it was in relation to some of the city’s residents being unable to find seats or places which afforded them a good view of the parade. Santa Cruz carnival is promoted internationally. It brings in revenue to the city, and restaurants, bars and other businesses benefit greatly from the influx of visitors on the day of the closing parade especially. There are no special privileges for tourists visiting the city. As far as finding a good spot or a seat is concerned, it’s a level playing field for everyone and residents do not have an automatic right to a spot, whatever some may think. If you turn up late, you might miss out on a prime view.
It’s good to see visitors to the island making the effort to enjoy important traditions and anyway, carnival events last for a month in Santa Cruz; the main events for over a week. Most tourists only visit on one day ““ the closing parade. Thankfully the complainers represented a tiny minority and the majority of the people of Santa Cruz welcome the interest and participation of visitors.
