Canary Islands’ recent voluntary tourist tax will fund local sustainability projects

Known for his or her year-round sunshine, mild climate, beaches perfect for rest or watersports, and wealthy biodiversity, the Canary Islands are a preferred tourist destination.

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In 2025, the Spanish archipelago welcomed 18.4 million visitors who stayed for a median of around nine days. Unlike other Spanish destinations, resembling Barcelona and the broader region of Catalonia, the Canary Islands doesn’t impose a levy on visitors – nevertheless, travellers will soon give you the option to make voluntary contributions to support the islands’ sustainability efforts.

The Government of the Canary Islands has launched the Canary Islands Tourism Regeneration and Nature Restoration Fund (RegNext) initiative, with support from the UK Spanish Tourist Office to fund environmental and community projects.

The system might be in place across the islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.

RegNext is designed to be certain that revenue generated by tourism enriches the archipelago’s ecological, social and cultural standing, while also signalling the Canary Islands as leading inside the field of regenerative tourism as an incubator of sustainability.

“Within the initial phase of RegNext, five pilot projects might be chosen: one on each of the islands with the best tourism pressure, and one other cross-cutting project of a social nature covering your complete archipelago,” Canary Islands Tourism said.

“To implement them, the Commission [of the Alliance for Regenerative Tourism] will design a voluntary, traceable, and transparent financing system that may allow resources to be directly and specifically allocated to regeneration projects.”

Projects funded through RegNext might be monitored against outcomes, including reducing emissions, habitat restoration, species recovery, landscape improvement, green job creation and in turn, reducing poverty.

Based on Canary Islands Tourism, the sector has played a task in tackling unemployment, providing jobs for 280,534 people.

Certainly one of the backers to collaborate on RegNext is easyJet holidays. Calling the initiative a “big step forward for regenerative tourism”, the UK tour operator signed a memorandum of understanding alongside other travel industry organisations resembling TUI, Expedia, Jet2 and Jet2holidays. UN Tourism also supported the signing of the agreement.

“At easyJet holidays we consider destinations thrive when tourism actively supports the places and communities that make holidays possible,” it said in a press release. “RegNext will channel tourism value into nature restoration, climate resilience and community profit across the islands.”