05/04/2024 – 13:05
Housing shortage, low wages, environmental destruction: side effects of the tourist exploitation of the Spanish archipelago, located close to the African coast, are only increasing, as is the revolt of the inhabitants.Recently, when the reporter for the online newspaper Canarias Ahora Toni Ferrera was traveling through the south on the island of Gran Canaria, he met Juan, 53 years old, who lives in a group of shacks because he cannot afford an apartment. Juan works as a lifeguard at the pool of a hotel complex and receives a thousand euros (R$5,460) per month. “This experience symbolizes very well what is happening in the Canary Islands”, says the journalist, who has been reporting for years in the Spanish archipelago, located in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the African coast. “Yes, tourism generates a lot of jobs,” says Ferrera. “But you have to ask yourself what kind of job this is if the salary isn’t even enough to pay the rent for an apartment.”
A new tourist record
The fact that there is widespread criticism of the current tourism model in the Canary Islands was demonstrated by the large demonstrations that took place on the weekend of April 20th, when a total of almost 60 thousand people took to the streets – a large number by international standards. Canaries.
“There is a feeling of dissatisfaction with the situation in broad sectors of society,” says José Miguel Martín, president of the Canaria Tamaimos Foundation, one of the organizations that called for the protest. The situation began to worsen after the end of the pandemic. More than 16 million tourists visited the Canary Islands last year – more than ever before. And data from the first months of 2024 predict a new record.
“It’s a huge deal,” says José Miguel Martín. In fact, tourists spent more than 20 billion euros in the Canary Islands last year. Tourism is responsible for almost 40% of total economic production. “But none of that wealth remains here. Just the trash and other negative consequences.” The healthcare system is chronically overwhelmed, and the streets are overcrowded.
The island’s residents generally only get low-skilled jobs in the hotels and apartment complexes. Statistics prove this: almost nowhere else in Spain are average monthly salaries as low as in the Canary Islands. Unemployment is high. According to the Comisones Obreras union, one in three inhabitants of the islands is at risk of poverty. “Something has to change”, says José Miguel Martín.
Rents have doubled in 10 years
Probably the most pressing problem is the lack of affordable housing, which has been exacerbated by the runaway growth in vacation rental prices in recent years. Furthermore, around one in every three housing units in the Canary Islands is the second home of a foreigner, according to Víctor Martín, one of the organizers of the recent marches. “Between 2014 and 2024, average rental prices on the islands have doubled,” he says. “Our protest is not intended to incite tourism phobia,” he guarantees. “Of course, we know that tourism will not lose its importance for the Canary Islands overnight. But the current model needs to be changed.”
One of the main demands of the protesters is a moratorium. All growth in the tourism sector must be stopped. In recent months, construction work on two large and controversial tourist projects in Tenerife has resumed after several years of standstill. This also contributed to the outbreak of protests. Six activists went on an indefinite hunger strike to achieve a definitive halt to the construction. “We must then use the moratorium to analyze exactly where the capacity limits of our islands are,” says Víctor Martín. For him, one thing is certain: “Tourism must decrease”.
Not even hoteliers want more growth
Even the Canary Islands hotel association, Ashotel, now has a similar opinion. “We cannot continue to have new tourist records year after year”, says Juan Pablo González, administrative director of the association. “In our opinion, this goes against the interests of the sector itself and the islanders.”
The objective, according to him, should be to improve the quality of the offer so that in the future fewer tourists visit the archipelago, but leaving more money. “Politicians are primarily responsible for ensuring that the population of the islands benefits more from tourism,” explains González. After all, the sector generates annual tax revenue of 3.4 billion euros (R$18.60 billion). “The question is whether this money is being used efficiently to improve the population’s living conditions.”
The president of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, expressed understanding for the protests and admitted to media representatives that things would have to change. “We cannot continue as before, and it is important that we reorient ourselves,” he said, but avoided making any concrete commitments.
However, a few days ago the government parties rejected the protesters’ most important demands in a vote in the regional Parliament, including the introduction of a tourist tax, a type of taxation that has existed for years in other tourist regions of Spain, such as the Balearic Islands and to Catalonia.
So activists in the Canary Islands will probably not have taken to the streets for the last time. Reporter Toni Ferrera also surmises that the protest movement will not retreat anytime soon. “The April 20 demonstration was just the beginning,” he is convinced.
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