Holiday operations to the island are continuing as normal, with the fires contained to more mountainous central areas of the island, far away from heavily touristed areas.

“We would like to highlight and express our gratitude for the exemplary conduct of both local residents and the more than 130,000 tourists on average who have been spending their time recently on an island with 931,626 inhabitants and who have followed the instructions issued by the authorities at all times,” Turismo de Tenerife said in a statement late on Monday (21 August).

Officials insist the island remains an "entirely safe destination” with airport and port operations were continuing as normal with no cancellations. “The situation remains entirely normal in all major cities and tourist destinations on the island,” the tourism body added. 

Firefighters were, in fact, considering allowing residents back after successfully managing to direct the blazes away from the boundary zone between the natural and the urban areas.

Believed to be the island’s worst for 40 years, the wildfires broke out on 15 August and have so far affected more than 13,000 hectares in northeastern areas of the island such as Santa Ursula, La Victoria and El Rosario.