Thousands of Canary Islanders take to the streets to protest against mass tourism and call for freeze on holidaymakers after graffiti told Brits: 'Tourists go home'

Thousands of Canary Islanders took to the streets of the Atlantic archipelago today to protest against the problems caused by mass tourism and demand their politicians take action.

Demonstrators packed into Weyler Square in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz, the start point for a march on the Brit-popular holiday island, just before midday with banners including one that said: 'You enjoy we suffer' in English.

Others said: 'Where is the money from tourism?' and 'Tourist moratorium now.'

They waved Canary Islands' flags and blew vuvuzelas to make a deafening noise.

Protests also got underway at the same time in the other islands in the archipelago, including Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, with support demos scheduled for the Spanish mainland in cities like Malaga and Madrid as well as London and Berlin.

The Canary Islands protests were organised under the slogan 'Canarias Tiene Un Limite' which in English translates as 'The Canary Islands have a limit.'

The backdrop to the demos is an ongoing hunger strike six men and women began on April 11 outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna.

Speaking ahead of the start of today's demonstrations, a spokesman for protest platform Canarias Se Agota which the hunger strikers are affiliated to, said: 'Today, April 20, marks the 10th day of the hunger strike.

'Today we cannot forget these people who are putting their lives at risk for our Earth.

'Their determination inspires, their bravery moves us, their sacrifice reminds us that this struggle is everyone's and for everyone.

'We are writing a new chapter in the history of our islands, a chapter marked by the unwavering perseverance of those who bravely defend our home.

'Today the Canary Islands will scream and fight, and tomorrow it will continue to do so.'

Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month.

At the beginning of this week a picture was published in local press showing the words 'Go Home' on a hire car in Tenerife.

Protest groups including Canarias Se Agota, which in English translates literally as 'The Canary Islands are Exhausted', want the authorities to paralyse two tourist projects including one which involves the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife's last virgin beaches.

They are also seeking a commitment from regional politicians to change the tourist model and protect islands like Tenerife from the worst excesses of mass tourism, including sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets.

Other demands include the protection of natural spaces, a tourist tax and better working conditions for hotel cleaners, who joined today's protest in Santa Cruz as they insisted to local press: 'We are not slaves.'

Official sources put the number of demonstrators in Tenerife at midday at around 10,000 people, although that estimate had increased to 15,000 by 1pm local time with some predictions it could end up surpassing the 50,000 mark.

An estimated 1,000 people started the protest march that began just after midday today from a park in Lanzarote's capital Arrecife.

Many more subsequently joined it and some local reports put the number of demonstrators at 'at least' 5,000 by the time it reached a city beach called Playa El Reducto.

In the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas, marchers carried banners in Spanish which said: 'It's not phobia, it's love for my land.'

A woman protestor held up another which said: 'Fourteen million tourists a year but 36 per cent of Canarians at risk of poverty.'

One of the other banners exhibited by protestors said: 'The Canary Islands government is an estate agency'

Another said: 'With so much Airbnb where are we going to live.'

More than 1,000 people were said to have joined the protest march in Fuerteventura by just after midday local time.

Protestor Xiomara Cruz, who took part in the march in Gran Canaria, said ahead of its start: 'They made us believe that in the Canary Islands we live from tourism and what we want is the right of islanders to live in their land.'

She called the protests a 'rallying cry from a population tired of seeing how our islands are being destroyed.'

Paula Rincon told local press: 'It pains me that Canarians cannot afford to live in their own neighbourhoods.'

Insisting the current tourism model led to 'more people paying lower prices and badly-built hotels that destroyed beaches and protected areas' she added: 'I don't know why we aspire to so many numbers when this doesn't filter down to the rest of the population.

'The current system doesn't benefit us, it impoverishes us.'

The protests in the Canary Islands are mostly taking place away from the main tourist areas, which in Tenerife and Gran Canaria are in the south of the islands.

Some British holidaymakers have shown their support for the issues raised by the islanders but others have accused them of biting the hand that feeds them.

The Canary Islands' tourism minister Jessica de Leon urged British holidaymakers not to cancel their holidays ahead of today's demos.

Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo initially admitted he was worried tourists might be put off coming to the area, before softening his message last week and describing the April 20 protests as an opportunity to 'revise' the current tourism model.

Jorge Marichal, president of regional hotel association ASHOTEL, has claimed tourists were ringing establishments to ask whether it was safe to come.

He has also insisted 'non-regulated' holiday lets are a big problem and the reason there is less control than there should be on the numbers of tourists in places like Tenerife.

Messages in English left on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month included 'My misery your paradise' and 'Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.'

In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a 'Tourists go home' message said: 'F*** off, we pay your wages.'

Protest platform Canarias Se Agota has insisted it has nothing to do with the graffiti that has appeared in parts of Tenerife over recent weeks - and has accused regional politicians of blaming them of tourism-phobia as part of a 'dirty tricks' campaign.

It comes as British holidaymakers have reportedly been calling hotels in Tenerife to ask if they will be safe amid a series of mass protests planned across the islands by activists unsettled by extensive arrivals of foreign holidaymakers. 

Tech worker Ivan Cerdeña Molina, 36, helped organise the protest as part of his role at local conservation group ATAN (Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza).

He told MailOnline previously: 'It's a crisis, we have to change things urgently, people are living in their cars and even in caves, and locals can't eat, drink or live well.

'Airbnb and Booking.com are like a cancer that is consuming the island bit by bit.

'The benefits of the industry are not trickling down to everyday people, whose salaries have not increased in years, the quality of life here is collapsing.'

Ivan was born and raised in El Medano, a once quiet town about a 20 minute-drive east of the most popular tourist resort of Los Cristianos.

The tourism minister of the Canary Islands has urged British travellers to spend their holidays in the archipelago despite mounting protests against overtourism.

Jessica de León insisted that in spite of reports of booking cancellations and fears of holiday disruptions, 'it is still safe to visit the Canary Islands, and we are delighted to welcome you'.

She told The Telegraph that while she understood the protestors' cause for concern, it was 'unfair to blame tourism' on the issues facing the Canary Islands. 

Last week, activists also went on hunger strike as part of a protest against the effects of mass tourism on island life.

Nearly a dozen campaigners for a more sustainable type of tourism went ahead with their threat outside a church in the historic city of La Laguna.

The hunger strikers want the authorities to halt two tourist projects, one involving the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife's last virgin beaches called La Tejita.

In La Palma, residents organised an event called 'Punktagorda Foresta Rock'.

They told MailOnline they plan to converse, not protest, about the issues.

'It's really just taking care of our home and the island and the people and setting healthy boundaries while making needs crystal clear,' Louis Slabbert wrote on Twitter/X.

Ms de León expressed sympathy with the concerns, telling The Telegraph: 'The problem is that the last five years have seen an average of 3,000 homes built on the islands, when demand is for 20,000. 

'Last year just 200 public housing units were built.'

Protestors attributed blame to the governance of the archipelago in their manifesto, writing: 'If we have reached this point it is because we have no other choice and because of the serious faults that our bad Government of the Canary Islands is committing.'

'They are putting our present and our future and that of the new generations at risk,' they added.

'Do not underestimate us, because we are many people. We are all of the Canary Islands, a whole movement.

'Without our work, our votes, you are nothing and nobody and you are not for what you are doing with the Canary Islands.

'We say enough is enough, not in our name,' warns the manifesto, read by 'Canarias se exhausta' members Víctor Martín and Isora Mesa.

The Canary Islands have largely built their economy around tourism, welcoming around 12.3million visitors each year.

In 2023 alone, foreign travellers spent more than 20.3billion euros in the region, accounting for a fifth of spending throughout Spain.

The direct and indirect contribution of tourism to the archipelago stands at around 35 per cent.

The volcanic islands were particularly badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions placed on travel as a result.

The Canary Islands are the third most internationally visited region in Spain.

Speaking to MailOnline during the first big getaway over Easter, residents on Tenerife said 'enough is enough' as they called for a moratorium on the industry, along with a tourist tax and stricter controls.

It comes as a wave of new anti-tourism graffiti has popped up near resorts over the past few days, with messages reading 'tourists go home' and 'too many guiris'.

Guiri is a Spanish slang word for foreigner, which is often used in a negative way to describe northern European or American visitors and expats.

One poster taped to a wall said: 'Locals are forced to move out and YOU are responsible for that… digital nomads you are NOT welcome here.'

But it seems some Brits are fighting back, with a message in English scribbled next to one of the slogans saying: 'F**k off, we pay your wages!'

Tensions are rising on the island as more and more people join calls for restraints on tourism. On Tuesday this week, a protest is planned in Santa Cruz, dubbed 'Salvar La Tejida' (Save La Teijda).

Campaigners will hold a press conference laying out their demands before holding a march with banners and signs.

Later this month, on April 20, a second huge protest is being planned by a string of environmental and social groups, again in the capital.

A poster for the event says the Canary Islands 'has a limit' and that protesters will be marching for 'conservation of natural spaces, a tourist moratorium, and tougher regulation for foreigners buying property.'

The main gripe among locals is the rising costs of renting and buying homes, as landlords continue to buy up Airbnbs and tourist lets, reducing supply and pushing up prices.

Local painter Vicky Colomer, 63, told MailOnline: 'I feel like a foreigner here, I don't feel comfortable anymore, it's like everything is made for British and German tourists who just want to drink cheap beer, lay in the sun and eat burgers and chips.

'We need higher quality tourists who actually want to experience our culture and food and respect our nature.

'This was a paradise but now it's not and it makes me angry. We must reduce the number of flights and visitors and focus on bringing higher quality people.'

She added: 'There are hundreds of caravans who park up illegally and leave rubbish all over the place.

'Near my home a few weeks ago foreign tourists put on a rave with a DJ booth and speakers in the middle of a field, that is not acceptable.'

She added that young people are increasingly tired of being unable to find decent work.

'They study for years and go to university but the only jobs offered to them here is in a hotel or a restaurant or bar, so all our young talent has to move away to the mainland if they want to pursue a proper career, it's not right.'

But it's not just the impact on human life that is enraging portions of the population.

Biologist Anne Striewe, 47, told MailOnline of the damaging effect tourism has on wildlife.

'There are hundreds of boats and jet skis in our waters everyday, pumping petrol into the water,' she said.

'Then there are the boat parties which blast music all day long, and what people don't realise is that this is picked up by whales and other creatures and really confuses and frightens them, it makes them go crazy.

'Meanwhile there have been multiple cases of animals being injured or killed by boat propellers, there are often vessels in protected waters but no one is cracking down on the activity.'

Meanwhile, according to environmental group Salvar Tenerife (Save Tenerife), millions of litres of sewage water is being dumped into the sea off Tenerife and other islands every single day, with the amount rising significantly when there is a high number of holidaymakers.

Anne added that locals are tired of tourism being given priority by the government.

'With the recent drought, water supplies have been cut off in some areas away from the resorts, but not in hotels and the golf courses.'

Anne insisted that the demands for more controls are 'nothing personal' against individual tourists, but that people have reached their limit and want to catch the government and the media's attention, hence the provocative graffiti.

Traffic is also a major problem, added Vicky, with delays between resort towns and the motorway of up to an hour-and-a-half during high season.

She added: 'Even the public transport is being taken over, the other day a tour guide jump the queue for a bus and had 20 tourists with her, and locals were forced to wait for another one.'

Back in Los Cristianos, British expats and tourists rushed to defend themselves against the rising anti-tourism sentiment.

Melissa Taylor, 47, works in the popular Giddy Goose English pub in Las Playas de las Americas.

She told MailOnline: 'The anti-tourism stuff has suddenly peaked recently.

'I think it's unfair what they're saying, without tourism there would be nothing here.

'Brits come here and spend a lot of money, the overwhelming majority of our customers are from the UK.'

Her colleague Terrilea Clayton, 22, shared her sentiment.

'It's a bit silly and unfair,' she said, 'without tourism I wouldn't have a job and it brings money to the island.

'During Covid Tenerife became a ghost town and it was terrible.'

However she admitted: 'I've lived here for 10 years and I do understand some of the arguments about rent, I was actually kicked out of a flat because the landlord wanted to turn it into an Airbnb.'

Another bar worker and mother-of-three Emma Barker, 43, from Leeds, agreed.

'Obviously it's ridiculous to bash tourism because without it there would be no jobs, the economy relies so heavily on it.

'But the rent situation is getting out of control, I've been really lucky with my landlord but if I had to find a new flat right now I don't think I would be able to, it's just too expensive and there are very few available long term. I would probably have to move to another country and start afresh.'

British tourists were also adamant that they bring something to the Canary Islands.

John Ashley, 61, from Durham, told MailOnline: 'It's ridiculous, if they stop or reduce the number of tourists coming they'll be sorry.

'If the English didn't come, I tell you right now that graffiti would change to say 'English please come back!''

'We've been coming here for 20 years and have more than helped the economy, we Brits always get a bad rep but we bring all the money in.'

Carol Ball, 60, chimed in: 'I think it's not right, we come here and spend money, without tourism where would they be? They rely so much on the industry.

'If they don't want to see drunk Brits then stay away from the resorts where you're likely to see them.

'Of course there are going to be a small minority who drink too much and go too far, but that's just part of the tourism business.'

Across the road, Londoner Jay Neil, 43, said locals need to stop taking out all the problems on tourists.

The worker at the popular Yolo bar told MailOnline: 'I've lived here 17 years and yes the property situation has got crazy.

'But they need to stop blaming tourists, it's the greedy landlords that are the problem, there's people buying like five apartments and renting them to holidaymakers because they know they can make a fortune.

'Saying tourists go home is just silly, it's the government that needs to act to sort out the housing crisis, which is happening all over the world not just here.'

Irish expat Bronagh Maheor, 23, added: 'It's totally unfair, without tourists here there would not be hotels or businesses, I'd be out of a job, we need them.'