4 days ago
‘Britons don't want to come to Tenerife anymore – they don't feel wanted'
British holidaymakers and the Canary Islands have been in love with one another since the 1960s when the first package deals attracted sun-starved northern Europeans at affordable prices. However, recent headlines suggest the romance is waning, with an acrimonious split said to be on the cards.
Sensational stories of hotel guests hiding in their rooms from riotous anti-tourist demonstrations, British restaurant patrons being spat at by furious locals, and plane loads of UK arrivals suffocating in inhumane conditions in two-hour queues at Tenerife South's arrivals hall have left many questioning whether their loyalty – and their holiday euros – would be more appreciated elsewhere. A proposed tourist tax could make things even more expensive in the near future, too. But does this narrative hold up, or is it just a case of holiday hysteria whipped up by clickbait headlines?
It's hard to ignore the protests that have been going on in the Canary Islands since April 2024, when tens of thousands peacefully demonstrated under the banner of 'Canarias tiene un limite' ('the Canaries have a limit'). But despite what some of the headlines seek to portray, protesters insist their gripe isn't against sun-seeking Britons, but principally about what they see as an unchecked tourism model that is progressively pricing locals out of their own communities, overwhelming the islands' infrastructure, and destroying ecosystems and environments both on land and in the ocean.
As Brian Harrison, from the Salvar la Tejita protest group, says: 'At no point was the protest aimed at tourists or tourism. Every one of the [17] organisations that took part values sustainable tourism as positive for the economy. The protest was clearly aimed at the unsustainable mass-tourism crisis which the Canarian government, island council and certain town halls are responsible for.'
Over 104,000 homes in the Canaries are owned by companies and large-scale property speculators. Meanwhile, during the past five years wages have dropped by nearly 7 per cent and rents have increased by 40 per cent, an unsustainable position for local workers, and the reason why hospitality workers are threatening further strike action this summer.
Nevertheless, it's clear that some British holidaymakers are taking the ongoing grievances personally. One local, employed by says she's aware of a definite shift in mood: 'My family back in the UK are saying a lot of people they know don't want to come to Tenerife anymore because of the protests. They say they don't feel wanted.'
And she's not alone. Tenerife estate agent Martin Astley says: 'We do get people contacting us asking if it's safe to come to Tenerife now because of what they're seen in the news. We always explain that the media are blowing things out of proportion, using dramatic, false headlines when the reality is nothing like what they're trying to portray.'
Major UK travel providers aren't panicking; far from it. Tui has actually increased its Canary Islands capacity this summer, adding 40,000 extra seats from UK airports, while easyJet has launched new routes to Tenerife from London Southend. In other words, despite the headlines, tour operators clearly still have faith in the destination.
The next big round of protests is taking place on June 15, but these marches are planned for mainland Spain and the Balearics, not currently the Canary Islands. Néstor Marrero, secretary of Tenerife's Friends of Nature Association, says that for now, the archipelago's protest groups have decided to change tack. Instead, they're focusing on occupying local landmarks, starting with Teide National Park on June 7.
So, while Barcelona and Mallorca may see crowds chanting for change, Tenerife and the other seven islands should remain peaceful on June 15. Having said that, if media headlines fail to make this distinction, there's bound to be a few more holidaymakers who get the wrong end of the stick and look at alternative summer holiday destinations like Turkey, Tunisia and Albania.
Santiago Sesé, president of Tenerife's Chamber of Commerce, recently reported an 8 per cent drop in UK summer bookings compared with last year. And Pedro Alfonso from the region's Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations admitted that there had been 'a notable slump' in reservations for the forthcoming season.
However, other sources suggest 2025 could be a record year for tourism to the archipelago. According to Spain's National Statistics Institute, the Canary Islands welcomed over 4.36 million international visitors in the first quarter of this year – a new record, up more than 2 per cent year on year. Of those, over 40 per cent came from the UK, with Tenerife taking the lion's share.
The British love affair with the Canaries may have cooled, but for now the planes are arriving full, and the hotels are still reporting high occupancy levels. Indeed, local business owners are sympathetic over the calls for change. What they're more worried about is the damage to the island's image due to misreporting. As local entrepreneur John Parkes says: 'I'm supportive of the protests. My concern is that the demonstrations are misinterpreted by the public and the media. The aims of the protests are to make the tourist model fairer for the people who live here.'
The reality is that the destination is just as warm and welcoming as it's ever been, and visitors are unlikely to even notice the unrest amongst the islanders who understandably want the government to prioritise their needs over the demands of an ever-expanding tourism industry. What's happening in the Canaries isn't a British retreat, it's an island reckoning, and if it does lead to a fairer, more sustainable tourism model, that should be something worth raising a glass of sangria to.
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