Enrique Talg Wyss: environmental proctection

The Cabildo, Tenerifes main council, has voted to build a leisure park at Risco Miguel, Los Realejos, in permanent memory of one of the founders of successful tourism in the North Don Enrique Talg. Enrique died recently, leaving his children well in charge of his superb hotel, the Tigaiga, in the Taoro Park. He was celebrated not only as hotelier, but as a strong conservationist of local flora. The gardens of his four-star hotel were quite beautiful, stocked almost entirely with local island plans, shrubs, bushes, treelife and flowers.

Wladimiro Rodriguez is the Environment and Landscape councillor at the Cabildo. He had this to say recently: We have sought to plan and build something with which we can identify, and render tribute to, Enrique Talg Wyss. He was always a champion in the protection of our environment. Our leisure park dedicated to him will provide a place for relaxation for strollers and senderistas, in the great hills above Los Realejos. It will be fully guaranteed for safety, and we can guarantee it will blend architecturally with the hills and valleys where it will stand as a long-lasting memorial to señor Talg.

It is not by coincidence that the zone chosen for the leisure park is actually called “Tigaiga”, though it is within the huge municipality of Los Realejos, which, like that of neighbouring La Orotava, stretches from the coast line up and up towards the forests and peaks that surround the peak of Teide. A small refuge will also be built in the park.

The Hotel Tigaiga is considered by many, if not all islanders, as the finest hotel in Tenerife. It has only four stars because of the Spanish laws which allow stars for the quantity of amenities offered by a hotel. One supposes that the swimming pool is not Olympic-sized, or there are not quite enough lifts. It is Quality that Enrique, following the example set by his own father, insisted on; quality of food and service, quality of napery, crystal and crockery, quality of furniture and cleanliness in the bedrooms and suites. The Tigaiga has always been a favourite with islanders and foreign residents as a place to have a quietly luxurious luncheon in the best setting possible, all the year round.

Enrique died on 27 September, 2006. He was a member of the Instituto de Estudios Hispanicos, the Agrupación Hotelera y Zonas Turísticas de España. The Plan de Excelencia Turística del Valle de La Orotava, the CIT at Puerto de la Cruz (one of the Founders) and the Patronato del Parque Nacional del Teide.

The Hotel Tigaiga has won on many occasions the Silver Award awarded by the Canary Island Government, and the Gold Medal given by the CIT at Puerto de la Cruz.        
  

by Jeremy Taylor