Second tourism modernization plan for Puerto de la Cruz

The Government of the Canary Islands has entrusted the Cabildo de Tenerife with the drafting of the Second Plan for Modernization, Improvement, and Increase of Competitiveness of Puerto de la Cruz, an urban planning instrument with a direct impact on the municipality’s tourist center. The cooperation agreement was signed on September 25, 2026, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and was published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 208, of October 19, 2026, section III, page 37482 (document no. 3590), by resolution of the General Directorate of Territorial Planning and Territorial Cohesion of October 5, 2026.

The agreement implements a management entrustment: the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion, and Water transfers the material task of formulating the plan to the Cabildo, but retains ownership of the competence and assumes its processing at each stage. The framework is Law 2/2013, of May 29, on the tourist renewal and modernization of the Canary Islands, and its implementing Regulation, approved by Decree 85/2015, of May 14, which configure these plans as urban planning instruments embedded within the archipelago’s planning system.

The precedent is the first Modernization Plan, definitively approved by Decree 107/2015, of May 22 and published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 116, of June 17, 2015, whose article 2.1 established as its objective the comprehensive requalification of the tourist center and the adaptation of the destination to new demand requirements. The new agreement provides continuity to the one signed on November 16, 2020 (Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 246, of December 2, 2020).

Who signs and with what backing

• Manuel Miranda Medina, Minister of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion, and Water, empowered by agreement of the Government Council of July 27, 2026.
• Rosa Dávila Mamely, President of the Cabildo de Tenerife, authorized by the Plenary of the corporation on April 30, 2026.
• Onán Cruz Díaz, Director General of Territorial Planning and Territorial Cohesion, signs the resolution ordering the publication.

Four years of validity and full cost for the Cabildo

The agreement will be valid for four years from its signing, extendable for another four years through an addendum that both parties must sign before expiration. All costs for the formulation of the plan, in all its phases, are assumed by the Cabildo de Tenerife, which may execute the work using its own means or through external contracting subject to public sector contract legislation; no economic obligations arise between the signing parties from the agreement.

A joint Monitoring Commission is created as the body for oversight, interpretation, and coordination of the planning proposal. The agreement is automatically terminated upon the final approval of the plan, and disputes shall be submitted to the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands.

Territorial scope and required documents

The scope covers the entire municipal district of Puerto de la Cruz, except for the lands affected by the modification of the current plan that remains under processing, which is the subject of the agreement of June 11, 2018, approved by the Governing Council on February 26, 2018. The minimum documentation includes:

• Preliminary study, report with an executive summary, and a management and execution program.
• System of indicators and landscape integration analysis.
• Information and planning maps, and an economic viability report.
• Environmental documentation for the strategic environmental assessment.
• Mobility study and acoustic zoning.
• Gender impact report and business impact report.
• Analysis of possible compensatory consequences and response to allegations.

A process that began in 2017

The Governing Board of the Urban Consortium for the Rehabilitation of Puerto de la Cruz addressed the convenience of preparing a second plan on December 11, 2017. The Plenary of the Cabildo formalized the initiative on December 28, 2018, the City Council of Puerto de la Cruz gave its consent on March 19, 2019, and the Government of the Canary Islands accepted the initiative on April 2, 2020 (Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 143, of July 16, 2020).

The second plan must define the tourism model of the destination and adapt it to new demand requirements, according to the objective already established in the current instrument. The entrustment to the Cabildo seeks to streamline the processing and coordinate the tourism rehabilitation policy that the island corporation already develops as president of the urban consortium and signatory of the agreement for the regeneration of the tourist space of Tenerife.

The new planning arrives with the destination immersed in the renovation of its accommodation capacity and its public space, and with a previous instrument dating from 2015. The calendar and content of the plan are now in the hands of the Cabildo, while the Ministry maintains the processing and final approval, such that the urban future of the municipality will be decided in a four-year procedure, which may be extended.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 208, of October 19, 2026, section III (Other Resolutions), page 37482 (official reference: no. 3590).