Spain, Apr 11:
Residents in the Canary Islands are planning protests and strikes in a backlash against overtourism.
Campaigners say the unsustainable influx of visitors is ruining life in the holiday hotspot.
One activist group on the island of Tenerife has planned a hunger strike over the construction of two new
hotels. Others report locals sleeping in cars and caves due to soaring house prices. In 2023, the
archipelago attracted 14.1 million foreign visitors, a record for the island group.
Demonstrators in Tenerife have organised a hunger strike next week over two new hotel developments.
Authorities had halted work on Hotel La Tejita and Cuna del Alma in Tenerife’s Puertito de Adeje over
environmental breaches but construction has recently resumed.
Canarias Se Agota (Canaries Sold Out) also plans to hold demonstrations on 20 April in Tenerife, Gran
Canaria, Lanzarote and La Palma under the tagline ‘The Canaries have a limit’.
Canarias se exhausta (The Canary Islands are exhausted) is another key group behind the plans for the
islands-wide protests. “We in these islands have always been very welcoming to tourists. But we want
more sustainable tourism,” Ruben Zerpa, of Canaries Sold Out, told UK newspaper i.
