The Canary Islands are bracing for a massive protest on Sunday, May 18, as more than 130,000 residents are expected to take to the streets in what some protesters say is a final warning to politicians and the tourism industry. The protest will start at 11am leaving from Plaza Weyler in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of Tenerife, to protest against an economic model they say is pushing the region to collapse. Fed up with environmental destruction, rising housing costs, and uncontrolled mass tourism, protesters are calling for the introduction of an eco-tax and tourist levy, limits on visitor numbers, restrictions on foreign property ownership backed by a residency law, and urgent action to halt the degradation of the islands’ natural and cultural heritage. Currently Brits make up the largest percentage of visitors to the Canary Islands with 6.3 million visiting in 2024 – that’s around 40% of all international arrivals.
Néstor Marrero, secretary of the environmental group, Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza, told the Express: “It looks like there will be a big turnout again. This is the fourth demonstration and all of them have been very well received. But this will be the last one. From then on, we will start to call for a boycott of tourist events and call for public disobedience.”
Marrero said that they are calling for an eco-tax and tourist tax, with revenues used for environmental restoration, public transport, and health care and he advocated for caps on visitor numbers, limits on foreign property ownership, and stronger protections for the islands’ natural and cultural heritage.
He stated that tourism has led to ‘cultural homogenisation and the abandonment of local traditions’, and that most profits go to foreign companies and hotel chains and not the local economy. He also underlined the rising housing prices due to vacation rentals displacing locals and the unsustainable surge in water and energy consumption, especially in arid islands like Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
Marrero said that the current crisis in the Canary Islands is the result of mass tourism, which has caused overexploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, pollution, pressure on protected areas, the loss of cultural identity, gentrification, precarious labour, and uncontrolled urban development.
Unless real action is taken, this weekend’s mass protest will mark a turning point, with activists shifting toward boycotts of tourism events and acts of public disobedience.
In a press release by activist group ‘Canarias Tiene un Limite’ (the Canaries have a limit), protesters vowed to escalate their actions beyond the streets by boycotting public events, confronting political figures, and occupying symbolic tourist spaces until real change is achieved.
Locals are denouncing years of government inaction in the face of mass tourism and growing inequality, and reject what they say are superficial legal reforms.
The statement reads: “Enough is Enough. The Canary Islands cannot continue to be a picture-postcard setting for the enjoyment of a few. We are the voice of those who do not accept that false progress justifies precariousness. We are the people of the Canary Islands, a people who will not give up until they get the change they deserve. On May 18, the struggle continues in the streets. Whatever comes next will be impossible to ignore.
“This cry, which reflects the feelings of a people tired of being ignored and mistreated, will be the beginning of a new stage of struggle: firmer, more direct, more uncomfortable for those who refuse to listen to us and take real action.”