Teide National Park Imposes Stricter Filming, Sports Event Limits

Teide National Park, a World Heritage site known for its unique natural environment, is introducing a new plan to manage how it's used. This new plan, called the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG), will start at the end of 2025. It replaces an older plan from 2002 and brings in much stricter rules for activities like filming movies and holding sports events. The goal is to protect the park's delicate ecosystem while still allowing for the many tourists who visit.

The first requests under these new rules are for a fictional movie and a cycling tour. These requests are currently open for public comment.

Under the new PRUG, there are clear limits for film and TV productions. Small film crews can shoot once a month, and large productions can shoot once every three months. This means there will be no more than 12 or 13 filming permits issued each year. Filming is only allowed in specific areas, and it's banned in most of the park to protect wildlife and keep the natural environment peaceful. Also, things like loudspeakers, spectators, and drones are generally not allowed. The only exceptions for drones are for very specific documentaries about the park, and only if there are no visitors around and wildlife isn't disturbed.

When it comes to sports events, the new plan generally sees them as not fitting with the park's conservation goals. However, it does make exceptions for "established events" like the Blue Trail running race and the Cycling Tour of the Island. It also leaves room for future events like the Tour of Spain cycling race, which visited the island in 1988 and couldn't come this year due to money issues. For these exceptions to be approved, the events must be organized by the Tenerife Island Council or another local government, and they must be shown to have a low impact on the environment. For example, the Tenerife Teide 360 cycling tour can't have more than 400 participants and will need an environmental monitoring plan.

This new plan is a big change from the 2002 PRUG. The old plan let a joint committee decide on special uses and didn't set limits on filming. It only asked that there be no spectators and sometimes required a deposit. Sports events also had fewer restrictions. Some environmental groups are worried that the new plan might put tourism and sports ahead of conservation in sensitive areas. However, Blanca Pérez, the Councillor for Natural Environment of the Tenerife Island Council, says the new plan is "more restrictive" than the old one. She argues that the 2002 plan didn't set clear limits, which in practice allowed more activities to happen.

The applications currently being reviewed are for a film called "Lennon no estuvo aquí" (Lennon wasn't here), a fictional story by Juanma Villar about The Beatles' visit to Tenerife in 1963, which is supported by the Island Council. The other application is for the Desafío Tenerife Teide 360º, a major cycling event. A key new rule in the PRUG is that organizers must now submit an environmental report with their project, something that wasn't required before. Before the Park Board makes a final decision on these permits, there's a 20-day period for the public to submit any objections after the plan is officially published.