Tens of thousands protest against Canary Islands’ ‘unsustainable’ tourism model
A man with the Canary Island flag painted on his face protests during a march against tourism which affects the local population with inaccessible housing among other things, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, Saturday, April 20, 2024. Picture: AP Photo/Miguel Velasco Almendral
Tens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.
The protests, which are taking place under the banner “Canarias tiene un límite” – The Canaries have a limit – are backed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/Birdlife.
