Tourism in the Canary Islands: Travel warning as mass protests to be held in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Palma against UK tourists

UK holidaymakers who are staying in the Canary Islands or who are planning to travel to the popular holiday destination have been issued a travel warning as mass protests will take place across the five islands against overtourism. On April 20, people will take to the streets in "historic" demonstrations in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Palma.

The protests on April 20 have been organised under the banner: "The Canary Islands have a limit". It comes after protests were held last year with protesters carrying placards saying "the Canaries are no longer a paradise" and "the Canaries are not for sale". Protesters demanded the introduction of an "eco tax" to pay for the environmental damage caused by the millions of tourists that flock to the islands every year. 

Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza (ATAN), a Gran Canaria urban development group, said in a statement: "The situation is alarming. Despite the record increase in tourists, poverty continues to rise. The biodiversity and natural spaces of the islands are suffering unprecedented deterioration, while the search for housing has become an increasingly difficult task.

''Journeys by road that used to last a few minutes can easily now take up to an hour and a half, contributing to general transportation chaos. Furthermore, the declaration of a water emergency in Tenerife and the daily discharge of more than 50 million litres of sewage into the sea in Tenerife alone are unequivocal signs of an unsustainable and unbearable model.”

However, despite the protests, the Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo, has called for "common sense". He said that tourism is the "main source of employment and wealth" for the local economy and he is concerned that the protests would insult tourists who have "come to enjoy themselves, to spend a few days and to leave their money in the Canary Islands".

Members of the 'Canarias se exhausta' (The Canary Islands are exhausted) movement have also told the government they plan to go on hunger strike on 11 April unless work on two new tourist attractions is halted within the next ten days. Protesters are demanding authorities definitively stop the works at Hotel La Tejita and Cuna del Alma, in Puertito de Adeje. 

The movement’s manifesto reads: “Do not underestimate us, because we are many people. We are all of the Canary Islands, a whole movement. Without our work, our votes, you are nothing and nobody and you are not for what you are doing with the Canary Islands. We say enough is enough, not in our name.”

The campaigners say they are not against tourists, but the effects produced by having too many holidaymakers on the islands. Tensions continued to rise after British holidaymakers visited Tenerife during the Easter holidays. The holidaymakers were met with anti-tourist graffiti. Residents living in the Canary Islands say they are “fed-up” of British tourists who only “drink cheap beer, lay in the sun and eat low quality food”.