Locals demand tourist tax for Tenerife: “Like a cancer consuming the island”

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It’s too loud, the air quality is constantly deteriorating and it’s getting dirtier: the locals on the Canary Island of Tenerife have had enough. When this year’s first tourists arrived on the holiday island, their enthusiasm was limited.

Residents of the Canary Islands told the British Daily Mail: “Enough is enough.” They are fed up with tourists, especially the British, who “drink cheap beer, lie in the sun and eat poor quality food”. They want to combat mass tourism with a tourist tax and stricter controls. The irritated Spaniards have already underlined their message with graffiti messages such as ‘Tourists go home’ and ‘too many Guiris’. Guiri is a Spanish slang word that describes tourists, especially Northern European and American, in a derogatory way.

Rents are skyrocketing

To stem the influx of tourists, some residents of the capital Santa Cruz are organizing protests calling for restrictions on tourism. What worries the protesters most: the rental and purchase prices of apartments. These are increasing rapidly because many landlords are buying up apartments. This not only drives up prices, but also greatly reduces supply.

Conservationist Ivan Cerdeña Molina (36) helps organize these protests. For him it is clear: “It is a crisis, we urgently need to change something. People live in their cars and even in caves, and the locals cannot eat, drink or live well.” Providers of hotels and holiday apartments are like “a cancer that is eating the island piece by piece.”

No Germans or British

Local resident Vicky Colomer (63) sees the problem in the type of tourists who visit her house: “We need higher quality tourists who actually want to experience our culture and food and respect our nature.” Those who do not count for them are the British and the Germans.

British expats are fiercely defending themselves against the accusations. Melissa Taylor (47) works in a pub on the holiday island and emphasizes: “The anti-tourism movement has suddenly reached a peak recently. I think it’s unfair what they say, because without tourism there would be nothing here.” However, she also understands: the housing situation on the island is escalating – whether it is the fault of the tourists or the government remains a controversial topic. (after )

Source: Blick