The so-called ‘anti-tourism’ protests across Spain this weekend have divided opinion among British expats and tourists.
The Spanish Eye was in Tenerife on Sunday to report on the demonstrations, which saw up to 9,000 people take to the streets.
READ MORE: Watch: Thousands of protesters march in Tenerife to demand an end to ‘excessive’ tourism
Fed-up locals are demanding a cap on the number of tourists, an eco-tax to help conservation efforts and the ending of sewage being dumped into the sea – among a host of other measures.
But the protests, part of an ongoing series across the country, have made some Brits feel unwelcome.
‘I think it’s stupid’, Dave Dott, 66, from Glasgow told the Spanish Eye while walking along the promenade in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, over the weekend.
‘This island will collapse if the protesters get their way… without tourism the island has nothing.
‘I think it’s a small but loud minority, they obviously don’t care about the service sector which would be massively impacted.’
However British expats and friends Val Richardson, 68 and Pauline Dover, 70, took a more measured view.
They said they have witnessed first hand how tourism has caused property prices to surge over the years.
They told the Spanish Eye: ‘It’s all about housing, for the residents who work here, their salaries simply are not enough to let them save up and buy.
‘I totally get why they are protesting, they’ve got to see to their own, which I think is fair.
‘I have a friend who is working here with a full time job, but her rent is over €1,100 per month and she just can’t make ends meet, she doesn’t know what she’s going to do.
‘And all these Airbnb-like properties are causing a lack of supply which is making everything more expensive. We moved here decades ago but there’s no way we could afford to move now.’
Olwyn and Dave Hughes, both 71, from Staffordshire, admitted they ‘don’t like what they see on the TV’.
‘We were just saying look at how many taxi drivers there are, if tourism is reduced or goes then a lot of them are out of work,’ they added.
The married couple said they think some Brits have already been put off, saying it seems ‘much quieter’ this year.
However, they said they can see the protesters’ point of view.
They continued: ‘There’s only a certain few who benefit from the industry, and housing is another big issue, I can fully understand, it’s like living in Cornwall and the Americans snap all the homes up, property goes up all the time there’s no chance for them to get on the ladder.’
Meanwhile, Steven and Michelle, Ross, aged 55 and 56 respectively, said they feel there is ‘not an awful lot we can do.’
Steven said: ‘I kind of get some of the arguments… Airbnb is the biggest issue, their salaries are too low they’ve got nowhere to stay… I can see their point of view, but if people stop coming there are a lot of jobs affected, it’s their number one source of income, the island is kind of built on tourism.’
‘If they don’t want us here we will look elsewhere, we’re not there yet, but we’d be really upset if we had to go elsewhere.’
Paul Nixon, 60, from Staffordshire has been visiting Tenerife for years.
He told the Spanish Eye: ‘I think they need to be careful what they wish for, the island is so dependent on tourism.
‘I think bookings are down already to be honest, it seems quieter this week. I saw they were spraying tourists with water in Barcelona which is completely wrong, if they started doing that here then we would definitely be put off coming.’
He added: ‘Everyone has the right to protest but they really need to be careful what they wish for.
‘And how can you stop people going on holidays? How do you put a stop to it, without upsetting people? I think they are running the risk of destroying what they have built.’
