Thousands of flag-waving protesters took to the streets in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday to demand a ban on mass tourism they say is taking a toll on the Atlantic archipelago. Rallying under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a border”, protesters began marching in the afternoon at tourist attractions in all seven main islands of the archipelago. Protesters gathered outside a convention center in Maspalomas on the island of Gran Canaria, the only water park on the island of Fuerteventura and the nightlife district in Playa de las Americas on the southwestern tip of Tenerife.
Waving the white, blue and yellow flags of the Canary Islands, chanting slogans and whistling, the protesters marched at a slow pace before rallying on the beach flanked by tourists sitting on outdoor terraces at Playa de las Americas. “This beach is ours,” they chanted as they watched tourists sitting in the sun under umbrellas. The demonstration follows large protests held in the archipelago’s town squares in April against the mass tourism model, which critics say favors investors at the expense of the environment, and which drives local residents out of housing. and forces them into precarious jobs.
“The tourism sector is bringing poverty, unemployment and misery to the Canary Islands,” Eugenio Reyes Naranjo, spokesman for the Ben Mezek-Ecologists in Action environmental group that has played a leading role in the protests, told AFP at a rally in Gran Canaria. , Holding placards reading “Canaries are not for sale” and “Enough is enough”, protesters called for limiting the number of tourists, a crackdown on holiday apartments and curbing what they described as uncontrolled development . Local officials said around 10,000 people took part in protests across the archipelago, with the largest rally in Tenerife attended by around 6,500 people.
‘You will get nothing in return’
These islands, which are located off the northwest coast of Africa, are known for their volcanic landscapes and year-round sunshine that make them a popular destination for Northern European sun-seekers. A record 16.2 million people visited the Canary Islands last year, a 10.9 percent increase compared to 2022 and more than seven times the population of about 2.2 million, with protesters arguing the level is unsustainable for the archipelago’s limited resources. . The islands are on track to break that record this year.
The biggest markets for the islands are Britain and Germany, although they are also a popular destination for people from mainland Spain. Official figures show that almost four in 10 residents work in tourism, which accounts for 36 percent of the islands’ GDP. But many locals complain that they do not share in the wealth generated by the tourism sector, which they say mainly goes to big companies outside the archipelago.
“The money generated in the archipelago goes all over Europe, the people of Gran Canaria get nothing in return. It’s foreign companies that come here and we don’t see the money anywhere,” said protester Adrian Souza, 32. at a rally in Maspalomas, told AFP.
‘so much construction’
One in three people living in the Canaries is at risk of poverty and 65 percent struggle to make ends meet, according to the latest figures from the European Anti-Poverty Network presented on Tuesday in the regional parliament of the Canary Islands. Some tourists cheered the protesters as they passed by. “The beach is being damaged by so much construction. I completely agree with them,” said Rosalia Magalillo, a 55-year-old tourist from Switzerland. She said she has been coming to Gran Canaria for 30 years.
Anti-tourism protests have multiplied in recent months in Spain, the world’s second most visited country after France, leaving authorities trying to reconcile the interests of locals and an attractive region, Which accounts for 12.8 percent of Spain’s economy. Barcelona City Hall has said it will ban all holiday apartments by 2028, while the southern city of Seville plans to cut off water supplies to properties offering tourists without a license.
