British visitors are calling in advance to check if it is still safe to visit after news of anti-tourist protests on the island, according to a Tenerife hotelier.
While the number of protests is increasing, holidaymakers are also being confronted by ‘Tourists go home’ graffiti in some parts of the island. An anti-mass-tourism demonstration was held in Tenerife’s historic town of La Laguna yesterday, where five members of the protest group Canarias Se Agota have gone on hunger strike to try to persuade authorties to block the building of two new hotels on the island.
The protestors also want local and regional politicians to protect Tenerife from the worst excesses of mass tourism, including sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the increasing property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets.
Demonstrators are planning marches in Tenerife as well as Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and La Palma on 20 April. The protestors insist they’re not against tourism, but Canarias Se Agota says it wants it to be more sustainable.
Jorge Marichal, President of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, told a local radio station he said he was concerned the protests were damaging the island’s reputation. “One of the problems I am facing is that clients are beginning to call and ask what’s happening here and whether it’s safe. It’s happening in some hotels,” said Jorge Marichal.
However, Mr Marichal told local media in Tenerife that he was concerned of the ‘unintended’ consequences of the planned 20 April protests on tourism to the island.
