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'Tourists go home!' Gran Canaria joins Tenerife as Canary Islands say 'we've had enough'


Local people in Gran Canaria are set to march through the island to protest against overtourism next month.

The demonstration is taking place on the same day as a similar protest in another of the Canary Islands – Tenerife. 

The April 20 Gran Canaria protest, which was reported by local publication Canarian Weekly, has been organised under the same message as the Tenerife demonstration. The message is: “The Canary Islands have a limit”.

Brits planning a summer jaunt to one of the islands may need to be wary of a frosty atmosphere from Spanish residents. The protests next month follow similar shows of strength last year, where residents sprayed slogans and called for tourists to “go home”.

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,” the association added.

According to ATAN, the institutional response has been ”disheartening”. It is claimed that officials have been betting ”on the destruction of the islands with the construction of more hotels” such as the Cuna del Alma tourist project or the La Tejita hotel. 

In 2023, protesters carried 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.

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