A large group of disgruntled residents in the Canary Islands interrupted a tourism industry conference on Sunday, using horns and chanting to express their frustration with the rising number of tourists visiting the islands each year. Utilising a slogan used in anti-tourism demonstrations that swept through Spain last summer, the residents told industry leaders, “The Canary Islands are not for sale, they are loved and defended.”
Protesters in Tenerife’s capital noisily shouted for “less cement and more foundations” as housing costs continue to rise due to the thriving short-term vacation rental market in Spain, which has resulted in many residential homes being transformed into Airbnb rentals.
Making this issue worse, new housing developments are frequently allocated for the lucrative tourist market, which has prompted the islands’ authorities to contemplate a 10-year moratorium on such projects. However, with a record-breaking 18 million tourists visiting the Canary Islands last year, despite vocal protests advising tourists to “go home,” local housing is not the only sector feeling the pressure.
As one of the numerous banners outside the conference highlighted, even the islands’ plumbing infrastructure is struggling to cope, with a banner reading, “Tourists are swimming in s***.”
The Canary Islands’ idyllic image is under threat as local environmentalists report an alarming rise in sewer discharges spilling into their azure waters. Famed Tenerife alone is grappling with over 200 active sewage outlets dotting its coast, and despite the vocal protests organized by ‘Canarias tiene un límites’ (Canary Islands have a limit), tourists continue to flock to these locations unabated.
With development showing no signs of slowing, some advocates like overtourism campaigner Felipe Ravina are pushing for a total suspension of new projects.
Ravina, voicing his frustrations to the local press, said: “Absolutely nothing has changed after the huge demonstrations that took place last year, and we are here to demand that limits be placed on tourism, a tourism moratorium.”
During the protests in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Sunday, several dozen campaigners called for immediate action to safeguard the islands’ future and establish a sustainable balance between tourism and residents’ wellbeing – a crucial issue given that tourism contributes significantly to over one third of the archipelago’s GDP.
Ravina argued: “We will be able to offer higher quality tourism and also (a better quality of life) for those of us who live here. Everyone is already suffering in some way from the consequences of mass tourism.”
With more demonstrations hinted for the upcoming vacation season, the documentary filmmaker mourned the effect overtourism has had on the local area. He said: “Someone buys your property to make a holiday home, the place of a lifetime is transformed to make luxury villas, you go to the supermarket of a lifetime and you no longer hear Spanish spoken.”
Activists in the Balearics convened on Saturday to ramp up their campaign against the surge of holidaymakers, with plans to “regroup, double the effort” and shine a spotlight on pressing housing concerns. The Mallorca-based protest group ‘Less Tourism, More Life’ has declared its determination to replicate “the great mobilisation” seen in July 2024, when throngs of demonstrators took to the beaches and tourist hotspots, brandishing placards and calling for decisive measures to address the overwhelming tide of tourists post-pandemic.