Tenerife Locals to Protest Over-Tourism: 'The Canary Islands Have a Limit'

now up to 10,000 people who live in tener are expected to join a mass protest tomorrow claiming that the Canary Islands are suffering from over tourism so campaigners say the number of tourists coming to the island is unsustainable and ruining life there for local people yeah let's speak to Nick Dixon Nick Nick Dixon who's there uh Nick there'll be people watching this morning they've booked their holidays they are going to tenie they go there every year they contribute to that econ may they never been before and I don't know whether they should be well absolutely you know we heard last year that just UK touris alone contributed six billion pounds to the tenie economy some will say it's a bit of a cheek blaming them when they're really probably helping the area aren't they of course they are and let's just be clear about this there aren't thousands of people here from the Canary Islands waiting at the airport to tell British tourists or anyone else for that matter to go home they are generally speaking very welcome but there is a feeling here that the island is kind of creaking under the strain of mass tourism and it has been for quite some time if you drive around here you will at times see the slogans the graffiti on thewall anti-tourist messages now that's not specifically directed to tourists coming in here individuals or groups it's really sort of propaganda if you like for the government to sit up and take notice because local people here feel that they have a very poor quality of life and they have for quite some time yet still new hotels and beach resorts are being constructed so there's a very strong feeling that tourism has to be cut by perhaps even up to 30% here not the typical friendly welcome messages you might expect from an island blessed with yearr round sunshine and millions of tourists each year but in recent weeks tension has erupted in the Canary Islands with some residents saying the impact of Mass tourism is ruining their lives many insist there are too many hotels a dire shortage of housing for locals and Roads overwhelmed with traffic and these people here are part of an activist group on hunger strike at the moment over the construction of another Hotel and Beach Resort on the island there's no anger against tourists or tourism there is a lot of anger against Mass tourism and the mass tourism has caused problems for almost every part of life for every person who lives on this island uh from the from the roads being gridlocked to water shortages to sewage problems to beaches being contaminated and the situation has escalated major protests and demonstrations are taking place tomorrow though some local business owners won't be taking part I sell excursions so I need to have the people around me who are coming on holiday and and make them like a great holidays campaigners want a tourist tax to help ease the problems facing the islands something the government so far has rejected Nick Dixon Good Morning Britain ten Reef well let's speak to Brian Harrison who we saw there in that report a British exer who's leading today's charge against tourism uh you're blessed with living on a beautiful island with wonderful weather um presumably that's what made you be an expert and go to live there in the first place why is the beef uh with the people who go there on holiday and are drawn there just in the way you were it's not the a beef with the people coming here it's the sheer amounts the volume of people when I arrived at the the island in 1991 there were maybe 2 million tourists a year now this number has gone up to over 6 million a year and from an island with a limited space that's it's unsustainable this is the issue the people your beef then is with the people managing the island and managing the tourist on the island the trouble is that if something like a tourist tax is imposed or indeed you know people just arrive and see the graffiti or hear about this protest it's not going to be a very nice place for them to go they already booked their holidays saved up all year to be able to go on holiday and the impact will be on them when really you want the people that have develop the island don't you well firstly the the the graffiti which is around the island island is not as widespread as some UK media has claimed it's not everywhere uh you have to you have to go go look for it to find it um tourists are always welcome here there will be no hostility towards any tourists but obviously action has to be taken the government has had three decades to resolve this issue it's been getting worse every single year every decade and this is the last resort to really get the government to take notice that they have to take action to limit tourism to to make tourism sustainable because at the moment it's not sustainable it's causing a lot of damage to uh to the to the lives of the residents it's it it's it's a very negative impact but what would you say though you know that it's it's the freedom of people able to go and enjoy holiday in tenor Reef that is actually that tenor reef is built upon I mean 6 billion pounds last year went the local economy there you know the argument if you even if you limit the amount of tourist visit it may affect the country as a whole people might start looking for other destinations and feel that tenor ree isn't a very welcome place there there's no economical model which uh proves that limiting tourism and increasing the quality of Tourism has a negative impact um on the contrary a lot of places uh destinations such as myor Barcelona uh other places around Europe they all imply they all apply a tourist tax and there's no negative impact at all economic or or or otherwise okay so what just just kind for what is it you're calling for what do you want the local authorities to do they limit the amount of people coming in or to increase taxes there okay several several points the first point is to stop the construction of tourist developments especially in natural protected areas which is a big issue here secondly limit the the the holiday letting which is uh it's is basically uncontrolled on the island um this has caused a huge housing crisis people can't get homes and then applying a tourist tax would probably automatically limit the tourism okay plus uh create a a Revenue income to to restore uh damaged parts of the Island right uh Brian we're going to have to leave it there but thank you so much uh for joining us and enjoy the sunshine today we're not getting an awful lot of that here but

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 31,939

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, tourism, tenerife anti tourism, canary islands

Id: Xo2EAfq3BJc

Length: 7min 35sec (455 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024