The environmental groups and citizens who called for the massive demonstrations in the Canary Islands on April 20The protests against the massive tourism model will resume this Sunday on the islands. On this occasion, the demonstrations will move to the main tourist centers of the archipelago such as Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Playa de Las Américas (Tenerife), Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Puerto del Carmen (Lanzarote). “We have not appreciated any real intention of change after 20A,” say the organizers. “The institutions have ignored us, creating a ‘table of experts’ in a paripé to try to appease us, but we are clear: those who have benefited from this unjust system will not be the ones to change it.”
The conveners maintain the motto ‘The Canary Islands have a limit’ from the previous call. Activists call for the implementation of a tourist tax, the stoppage of macroprojects in Tenerife (like Cuna del Alma, in the municipality of Adeje) and the moratorium on new licenses hotels and vacation rentals. They also ask to limit the purchase of homes to non-residents, concerned about the pressure this puts on the real estate market.
“Tourist areas are the symbol of the abuse of our resources and the speculation that is destroying our territory,” the organizers assert. “Every hotel, every road, every golf course is a wound to our future and a threat to those of us who defend a sustainable and fair Canary Islands,” they say. “We want tourists to know what is happening,” they explain about the reason for holding the demonstrations in tourist centers. “We not only want our leaders to listen, we also want those who visit us to understand that this tourism model is unsustainable and destructive for our land.”
In August, latest data available in the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (Istac)1.4 million visitors arrived in the Canary Islands, 8.94% more than a year before. Residents abroad (1.21 million in total) grew by 10.38% year-on-year; residents in Spain increased by 2.2%. The regional Executive expects that this year the visitor record set in 2023 will be broken at 16.2 million total visitors. The budgets leave the islands with close to 18 million people.
Despite these data, according to the latest report from the European Network to Fight Poverty and Social Exclusiona third of the Canary Islands are at risk of poverty. Furthermore, two out of three have problems making ends meet and one out of five is late paying their rent or mortgage, figures at the top in Europe. The islands closed the second quarter of the year with an unemployment rate of 13.86%, according to the Active Population Survey (EPA) of the National Institute of Statistics. This figure is the lowest since December 2007, when it stood at 10.89%. The rate is two and a half points above the Spanish average (11.27%) and is the fourth highest in the country, after Andalusia (16.27%), Extremadura (15.40%) and Castilla-La Spot (13.92%).
This Wednesday, the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, He was understanding with the demands of social and environmental groups, although he claimed “that whoever talks about change has to say what needs to be changed,” since “things to eat” are at stake. Regarding the notable success of tourism, he acknowledged that despite “being fantastic,” it generates some distortions and “an excessively intensive use of certain natural spaces” where councils have to rethink policies. And he stressed: it is not just about “changing for the sake of changing” but doing it “to something better.”
Companies have criticized this new call, although they admit that something has to change. The president of Ashotel and of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT), recalled this week at a sector event held in Tenerife that there is an “open social debate” in which the Spanish tourism model is questioned and that it is necessary “ take action on the matter” given that, otherwise, both the public and private sectors run “the risk of losing the social license to operate.”
