The Canary Islands government wants to hold emergency talks with ‘anti-tourism’ activists following a plunge in British bookings, it has emerged.
Santiago Sese, president of the region’s Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern on Friday after revealing the number of British reservations for this summer have fallen by 8% year-on-year in Tenerife.
It comes just hours before the island is set to be swamped by tens of thousands of fed-up locals, in what has been described as an ‘unprecedented’ protest against the ‘excessive’ tourism model.
Sese revealed the troubling numbers while presenting the Economic Situation Report for 2025, reports regional newspaper El Dia.
Tourism minister for Tenerife, Lope Alfonso, has since announced that he will reach out to the activists to ‘discuss the future of the islands’.
Alfonso said the government has been working on a model to ‘achieve a balance between the interests of residents and tourists.’
According to Sese, there are signs of a decline in the number of tourists, with the British market among the most affected.
He said competing countries like Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and neighbouring Morocco have all seen their bookings increase.
He regretted that the advertising campaigns specifically targeting the UK are not having an impact.
It follows a series of widely-reported ‘anti-tourism’ protests across Spain that have made many Brits feel unwelcome.
But the ‘Canaries has a limit’ (Canarias tiene un limite) movement, which is behind the protests this weekend, has seemingly rejected the olive branch.
Referencing the government’s offer of a dialogue it wrote: ‘Dialogue? We want facts.
‘The rest are attempts to calm what’s coming: a social uprising demanding a fair model for the Canary Islands, where bosses, lobbyists, and corrupt officials have no place. See you this Sunday.’
The Canary Islands has a population of 2.2million people, but welcomes around 18million holidaymakers each year – which locals say is placing a strain on resources, causing jet fuel pollution, traffic chaos and a host of other issues.
For this reason, activists are calling for a cap on the number of holidaymakers, to prevent overcrowding and resource depletion.
Among their other demands is a ban on any new hotels or tourism apartment complexes, and the immediate demolition of projects already declared illegal.
These include large-scale luxury projects like the Cuna del Alma and La Tejita hotels in Tenerife, which they accuse of causing environmental harm.
They also want a ‘significant’ tourist eco-tax that will be used to pay for the conservation and maintenance of natural spaces.
One of the biggest gripes is the surge in Airbnb-style properties, which has been blamed for rising house costs and the dwindling supply of homes to rent or buy. Therefore, protesters want much stricter controls on vacation rentals to alleviate the housing crisis.
Another housing issue is the high number of properties being snapped up by foreign purchasers, which locals say is behind skyrocketing prices. They therefore want to ban or restrict the ability of non-residents to buy homes.
