2024-04-11 10:57:35
Meanwhile, Canary Islanders are resorting to desperate measures to reduce the number of tourists at tourist attractions. Locals spray anti-tourism graffiti and put up fake signs that say ‘closed due to overcrowding’. They aim to scare off vacationers.
“We have nothing against individual tourists, but this industry keeps growing and growing and consumes so many resources that the island cannot cope with it,” explained Ivan Cerdena Molina, activist of the Association of Friends of Nature in Tenerife (ATAN), to the Olive Press news portal.
“This is a crisis, we need to change the situation urgently. People live in cars and even caves, and the natives cannot eat or drink – they simply cannot live well. Airbnb and Booking.com are like a cancer that is bit by bit eating away at the island,” he added.
According to the activist, the benefits of this industry do not reach ordinary people, whose wages have not increased for years, and the quality of life in Tenerife is simply collapsing.
Activists’ demands
Campaigners in the Canary Islands claim that skyrocketing property prices driven by tourism are putting affordable housing out of reach for many locals.
Meanwhile, the huge influx of holidaymakers in Tenerife has overwhelmed healthcare services, collapsed waste management systems, water shortages for consumption and the agricultural sector, overcrowded protected areas, rising crime and loss of biodiversity.
“The current tourism model has completely destroyed the quality of life in the Canary Islands and their uniqueness – the conditions for a dignified and valuable life, our biodiversity, landscape, people and our identity,” explained the participants of the Canarias se exhausta campaign. “Immediate action is needed to replace mass tourism with a regulated model based on declining growth and sustainable coexistence of the tourism industry with the general well-being of the population.”
In addition, they demand improved and expanded health care services, increased educational resources, expanded public transportation, and the right to housing.
Activists demand to reduce the flow of tourists in protected natural areas. They are asking the government to better maintain and manage them to avoid the current ecological attacks and environmental degradation.
“Tourismophobia”
Government officials have warned citizens against what they call “tourismophobia”, saying the resort’s economy is heavily dependent on the industry.
The president of the Tenerife council, Rosa Dávila, testified last week that politicians are ready to cooperate with activists. He said the local authority was committed to “reforming what we all think could be improved” in the tourism industry, but said its officials were “far from those who take radical positions and do not understand them”.
“When creating an economic model, one needs to be vigilant and watch to improve the quality of life of the society it serves.” This does not mean that the entire economic model that contributes significantly to the Canary Islands’ GDP and job creation needs to be dismantled,” the councilor explained to the Canarian Weekly news portal.
Her comments were echoed by the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who urged anti-tourism protesters to use “common sense”.
“We cannot attack our main source of jobs and welfare because that would be irresponsible,” he explained.
News of the unrest has also alarmed British holidaymakers, with hotel operators revealing they are receiving calls asking about security on the islands.
“Yesterday morning I was at one of my hotels and one of the problems I had to deal with was that customers are starting to call and ask what’s going on here and if the islands are safe,” the president of regional hotel association ASHOTEL told news portal The Daily Mail. Jorge Marichal.
“It’s normal for the islanders to feel some anxiety, because I feel it too. We must demand that the infrastructure corresponds to the chosen tourism model, he added. – We have to understand that the tourism model has changed because of technology and Airbnb, but also because property owners have turned that property into a business with very lax regulation. Meanwhile, the growth in the number of tourist accommodation places did not match the investment in infrastructure”.
The campaigners themselves say they are not against tourists, but against the consequences of overcrowding on the islands. This is mostly caused by large tourism operators who buy or build huge properties with little regard for how these projects affect the local population.
Activists said that on April 20 the planned demonstration is motivated by “desperation”.
“Why do we want leaders who don’t want to see what tired, worn out, damaged and torn islands we will leave to our daughters and sons?”, they said. “We would be risking our lives, and you are risking our future and the future of new generations.”
Based on information from The Daily Mail.
2024-04-11 10:57:35