This pilot project includes San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tegueste, Tacoronte, El Sauzal, La Matanza de Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, and El Rosario, all of which have a deep historical and religious tradition closely linked to the identity of the territory.
The Quality Seal for Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Destinations is conceived as a strategic tool designed to provide structure, rigor, and international projection to a growing tourism segment. Promoted by the World Religious Tourism Network, a program of the Tourism and Society Think Tank, this certification system will enable destinations to organize their religious and spiritual heritage, strengthen the quality of their tourism offering, and position themselves in international markets as territories committed to cultural preservation, social cohesion, and the principles of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Director of the World Religious Tourism Network in Spain, Pilar Valdés, noted that the creation of this seal “provides territories with a key tool to transform their religious heritage into a tourism product with identity, ensuring respect for local traditions while delivering visibility, prestige, and differentiation in an increasingly competitive tourism context.” She also emphasized that the pilot nature of the project in Tenerife Nordeste will make it possible to validate a methodology that can later be replicated in other destinations internationally.
For his part, the President of the CIT Nordeste de Tenerife, Mateo Gutiérrez, highlighted that this initiative represents the municipalities’ strategic commitment to a complementary tourism model based on the enhancement of their identity, history, and religious heritage. According to Gutiérrez, religious tourism helps strengthen Tenerife’s positioning as a diverse and cultural destination, adding a differentiating element compared with other sun-and-beach destinations and responding to the growing demand for authentic, meaningful experiences.
The certification process includes technical and participatory work that covers the inventory and diagnosis of religious and cultural heritage, the assessment of the suitability of resources as tourism products, the engagement of key stakeholders in the territory, and the definition of routes, sites, and sacred experiences. The aim is for these proposals to be incorporated in a structured way into Tenerife Nordeste’s tourism offering starting from the next winter season, aligned with the destination’s identity and with international quality standards.
RMTR underlines that these Canary Island municipalities represent examples of destinations where local devotiont fervor and religious traditions remain alive and deeply rooted, and are now being responsibly highlighted to enrich the experience of visitors who seek in Tenerife something more than sun and beach.
The project presentation event will take place at FITUR’s Canary Islands Pavilion and will have the support of Turismo de Tenerife, as well as the presence of the Vice President of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso, and institutional representatives, mayors, and tourism councilors from the municipalities involved. With this initiative, Tenerife Nordeste positions itself as a pioneer and an international benchmark in religious tourism and pilgrimage, leading a project that aims to set a quality standard for destinations worldwide.
