Brits were seen sunbathing on the beaches of the Canary Islands, scrolling through their phones obliviously as locals protested against the influx of tourists, oblivious to the calls to ‘go home’
British holidaymakers soaking up the September sun on the Canary Islands got more than they bargained for last week as protesters took to the beaches with demands telling them to ‘go home’.
Unfazed, however, the tourists remained put, enjoying the rest of their getaway. Spain’s stunning Canary Islands have seen a recent surge in visitor numbers, leading local inhabitants to plea with officials to clamp down on the tourist tide that’s washing over their shores. Yet, even as calls to ‘go home’ sounded around them, Brits on the beach seemed entirely unfazed with one casually browsing on his phone while another cheekily flashed a peace sign at the camera.
This recent demonstration was one of the largest against tourism to the islands, with 20 groups rallying behind the motto ‘Canary Islands have a limit’. Protesters are voicing concern over escalating housing prices driving locals out, which many attribute directly to the influx of tourists.
During these protests, 32-year-old Sarah Lopez from Gran Canaria said: “We need a change in the tourist model so it leaves richness here, a change so it values what this land has because it is beautiful.” As the determined demonstrators marched with banners emblazoned with messages like ‘The Canaries Don’t Live off Tourism. Tourism lives off the Canaries’ encapsulated the anti-tourism feelings spreading throughout the islands, reports BirminghamLive.
One protester’s sign read ‘Enjoying a day at your pool? That water could be going on food’ and others declared ‘Macrotourism destroys Canary Islands’ and ‘The Canaries have a limit. More trees, less hotels.’
These protests mark one of the largest demonstrations against tourism to date, with the Spanish government reporting that 8,000 people took part last weekend. This comes as the Spanish National Statistics Institute revealed that 9.9 million tourists flocked to the Canary Islands between January and September this year, a 10.3 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
But the Canary Islands aren’t alone in facing a surge of protests recently, with other popular Spanish holiday hotspots including Barcelona, Mallorca and Malaga also experiencing pushback against high tourism rates.
But it seems change is on the horizon for the Canary Islands, as the regional government has proposed a law that looks set to pass, introducing stricter rules on short-term lets. Under the new law, new build properties will be prohibited from offering short-term lets, and property owners will be given five years to comply with the new regulations.
