"The Canary Islands have a limit." Under this slogan, hundreds if not thousands of Canaries residents will take to the streets in five islands on April 20th, driven by "frustration over a failed tourism and land management model," states Jaime Coello, president of one of the organising entities of the protest, the Telesforo Bravo-Juan Coello Foundation.
Both he and the spokesperson for the Salvar La Tejita association, Rubén Pérez, who has also joined the initiative, emphasise that what they demand is "real sustainable development, a complete reorientation of activity and the tourism model." For now, these protest rallies will take place simultaneously in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and La Palma.
Furthermore, there will also be a call for "redistribution of tourist wealth," as "most of it stays in the tourists' home country," leading to "increased poverty and social exclusion of the islanders," Coello explains.
Therefore, the organisation regrets that there's talk of "tourismophobia." "Both the President of the Canary Islands and those of the Chamber of Commerce are mistaken in their diagnosis. They are the ones who must lead this change of model, and if they do not understand what disease is affecting us, it will be impossible to solve it," says Coello.
In this regard, Víctor Martín, a professor at the University of La Laguna, believes that with these discourses, "the intention is to alarm the population," making them believe they are "against everything". He says that they are aware that "changing the tourism model to another requires a lot of time, and no one is saying that tourism should stop overnight."
In response to this situation, the expert considers that the solution to this problem would be to "put a brake on tourist growth" and "start thinking about how to move towards a more sustainable and diversified model."
He highlights that in the archipelago "there are resources and qualified personnel to develop sectors such as agriculture, agro-industry, or the industrial sector, which are currently completely absent from the islands."
There are specific requests from the associations organising the protests, such as controlling the number of tourists, establishing tourist taxes, or limiting the number of residents, among other issues.
On the other hand, Jaime Coello, president of the Telesforo Bravo Foundation, comments that the current system, based on "mass tourism and the occupation of every inch of land," leads to "many environmental problems that are leading terrestrial and marine ecosystems to collapse," generating "very important social problems."
And precisely, this "mass tourism" has negative consequences in the sector. "The quality of the tourist product is being destroyed by the investors themselves and the regional government," criticises Víctor Martín. In this regard, he adds that travellers arriving in the islands "do not enjoy all the landscapes because everything is crowded, and they see the environmental deterioration."
All this situation directly affects the Canarian residents. As Jaime Coello highlights, the effects translate into "traffic collapses, lack of access to housing by residents," due to a "very significant" population increase.
In addition to all this, there is also "pressure on public health and education systems," which means that "the quality of life in the Canary Islands is being diminished, and that is because the authorities are not capable of understanding that this model leads us to collapse."
The Government and the hotel industry employers have both shown concern over the demonstration called for April 20th. The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has called for "common sense", saying "Tourism is our main source of wealth, and I believe that those who come to enjoy, spend a few days, and leave their money in the Canary Islands should not be harassed." He thus reminded that the Government has already taken "important steps in housing matters."
According to statements collected by Efe, the vice president of Ashotel, Gabriel Wolgeschaffe, views the calls for demonstrations against the tourism model with "concern", and has demanded that "the cow that gives milk be left alone", or in our terms, “don’t bite the hand that feeds you!”
The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria, Luis Padrón, also expressed his opinion that the "tourism sector must be cherished and protected." In his view, what needs to be done is to continue working to have "a more interesting tourism model" regarding "quality and quantity."
The president of the Chamber of Commerce in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santiago Sesé, also stated that they will be against "anything that could be tourismophobia," referring to slogans like 'Tourists go home' that have been reproduced in public places. However, he conveyed that they are aware that "reflection needs to be made" about the current model.
