The population of the Canary Islands is demonstrating against the current management of tourism which, to date, is worsening people’s quality of life due to an excessive increase in house prices. The natural beauties of the islands are also paying the consequences of mass tourism.
On Saturday 20 April, thousands of people demonstrated in the Canary Islands, and in the rest of Europe, such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid and London, to say enough to tourism. And why?
Let’s clarify.
Enough tourism: what they are demonstrating for in the Canary Islands
“Canarias has a limit”, “The Canary Islands have a limit”, this is the slogan of the demonstrations. In reality, it is not tourism that the protesters are saying is enough, but a system that is impoverishing people and destroying the ecosystems of these wonderful islands.
Just go to the south of Tenerife, for example, to easily understand what the consequences of mass tourism are: buildings, buildings and more buildings that ruin the beauty of nature and have nothing to do with local tradition.
(Read also: Tenerife residents protest against mass tourism: “eco-tax” hypothesis for environmental damage)
Overtourism strikes again
We call it “overtourism” and by giving it this label we risk not understanding sufficiently the damage it entails, namely:
- the hyper-exploitation of a place for tourist purposes, which implies the construction of mega hotels that ruin the territory both from an environmental and economic point of view, and a consequent impoverishment of the local population.
But if there is more tourism, shouldn’t there be more money? Yes, of course, but only for a few.
Tourism in the Canary Islands: wealth that impoverishes
Tourism in the Canary Islands represents 35% of the GDP, we are talking about 16.9 billion euros in 2022 alone.
At the same time, however, 33.8% of the Canarian population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the highest percentage in Spain, after Andalusia.
Why?
When a place becomes famous and invaded by mass tourism, therefore not those who travel in an area to discover, enjoy and respect its natural and local beauties, prices increase and the population and anyone who wants to live on the island, struggles to afford the rent or buy a house, and finds himself forced either to become impoverished for a rent, or to find a house in less touristy places, but decidedly further away from the place of work, losing quality of life.
This happens almost everywhere mass tourism arrives, in the Canary Islands the effect is very evident because the territory is limited.
Water emergency and tourism
To give you an example, in Tenerife there is a shortage of water due to the climate emergency and this will lead to restrictions if there is not enough rain within this month, the risk is that tourism levels will not be maintained: in the meantime, however, there are large areas dedicated to golf courses that require enormous quantities of water.
In short, the Canary Islands do not say enough to tourists, but to a system that allows a few to get rich, while many become increasingly poorer, all of this also ruining natural beauty and ecosystems.
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