Tens of thousands of people in Spain's Canary Islands have rallied against a model of mass tourism they say is overwhelming the Atlantic archipelago. The protesters want limits on tourist numbers and curbs on what they describe as uncontrolled development harmful for the environment and residents.

Canary Islands

Thousands of individuals in Spain's Canary Islands have taken to the streets to voice their concerns over the existing tourism model, which they argue is unsustainable and deleterious to both the environment and local inhabitants. The protests are a response to what is perceived as an excessive influx of tourists that the archipelago is struggling to accommodate. The demonstrators are advocating for regulations to limit the number of tourists and to curtail rampant development, which they believe is harming the local ecosystem and disadvantaging residents.

The rallies saw participants brandishing flags and filling the streets of various islands in the archipelago, expressing frustration with the economic dependencies created by mass tourism. Protesters highlighted the negative impacts, including the proliferation of vacation homes that escalate rental prices, making it increasingly difficult for the youth and locals to afford living in their own communities. The issue is exacerbated by the geographical isolation of the Canary Islands, situated thousands of kilometers from mainland Europe, spurring feelings of neglect and socio-economic disparity among the inhabitants.

Critics of the current tourism model are not only concerned with the socioeconomic imbalances it fosters but also with the ecological and cultural degradation it precipitates. Demonstrations also focused on the opposition to the construction of new hotels on Tenerife, the most populous island of the archipelago. Despite tourism being a significant economic pillar for the Canary Islands, contributing to 36% of the economy and employing 40% of the workforce, the scale of tourism—approximately 16 million visitors last year, significantly surpassing the local population of 2.2 million—has sparked a call for a reassessment of priorities to ensure the sustainability and well-being of the local communities and environment.



Thousands rally in Spain's Canary Islands against mass tourism

Flag-waving crowds packed the streets across Spain's Canary Islands. Organizers of the protests say mass tourism has perpetuated an economic model that harms local residents and are thus demanding that authorities limit the number of visitors. We are seeing vacation homes invading our villages, which is pushing up rents. Young people want to become independent, and we're finding it increasingly difficult, as we're thousands of kilometers away from European territory. We Canarians are fed up with being second- and third-class citizens. We're fed up with overcrowding, with institutional mistreatment, with low salaries, with our heritage being destroyed, with our land being bought by foreigners because they have more money to buy the land of our grandparents that we have not been able to buy. Demonstrators also called for a halt to the work on two new hotels in Tenerife, the largest and most developed island. In the Canaries, tourism accounts for 36 percent of the economy and employs four out of ten residents. Nonetheless, the amount of tourists can be overwhelming. Last year, some 16 million people visited the archipelago, more than seven times its population of 2.2 million.

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