Santa Cruz to spend 12,1 million euros on fiestas next year

The festival committee in Tenerife’s capital will have an additional 800,000 euros at its disposal in 2027. This is evident from the municipal budget. The town hall there has a dedicated department for festivals. It is headed by Javier Caraballero, who can look forward to a budget increase of just over seven per cent. This means that Santa Cruz has more money at its disposal than would have been necessary due to inflation.

The money is being channelled to EPE, a publicly owned company. This means that «Fiestas de Santa Cruz» will receive 12.1 million euros for its festivities. This is a record figure for Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Among other things, the funds will be used to support the major carnival, which is, after all, the second largest in the world.

There are frequent and lavish celebrations in Santa Cruz – and so funding is allocated for far more than just the carnival. Even though other fiestas are also supported by the million-subsidy, the «Carnaval» remains the flagship event par excellence. In total, the budget for this and other purposes has risen by around three-quarters within just a few years:

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is pumping millions into fiestas

The budget increase was approved with votes from the CC, PP and PSOE. There had been some discussion in the meantime, as the proposal document contained an error. Once corrected, the opposition did not have enough time to review it. Consequently, the decision was postponed. Although the budget has not yet been finalised, approval is considered a mere formality.

According to this, the stage and set design alone for the major carnival galas will cost around 400,000 euros. Added to this is the artistic direction, for which around half a million euros is to be made available, including fees. Just under 100,000 euros is being made available for the promotional visit by Tenerife’s Carnival Queen to take part in celebrations in London. Just under half of this is being covered by the Tenerife Tourist Board.

Santa Cruz increases its festival budget by 73 per cent

Within four years, the budget for festivities in Tenerife’s capital has thus been increased by just under 73 per cent. Whilst it stood at around seven million euros in 2023, the budget was increased by 1.8 million euros a year later. By 2025, it had already reached just under 10.6 million euros, and this year it has risen to 11.3 million euros.

Next year, Caraballero and his Fiesta Department will therefore have more money at their disposal than ever before. The budget is only part of the expenditure for the major celebrations. These are co-funded by numerous other departments, such as the tourism department of the largest island and the Canary Islands in general.