This weekend, residents of Spain’s Canary Islands are popping out in pressure to protest in opposition to mass tourism.
Individuals on the archipelago have been rising more and more vocal about its struggles with customer numbers.
Final yr, locals held a number of protests to focus on overtourism’s pressure on native infrastructure and housing availability. They give the impression of being set to proceed once more this summer time as residents say little has been accomplished to sort out the issue.
Protests deliberate throughout Spain in opposition to overtourism
On Sunday, 18 Could, residents of the Canary Islands will take to the streets to hitch protests organised by marketing campaign group Canarias tiene un límite (The Canary Islands have a restrict).
Demonstrations might be held on all of the islands of the archipelago in addition to in a number of cities throughout Spain.
Protests will start at 11 am on the seven fundamental Canary Islands – El Hierro, La Palma, La gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura – and at 12pm on mainland cities together with Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.
Residents within the German capital of Berlin are additionally planning to take to the streets in solidarity.
Why are residents of the Canary Islands protesting?
The organisers say they’re protesting to oppose the present financial mannequin “based mostly on overtourism, hypothesis, inequality and the infinite progress on very restricted land”.
As an alternative, they need a transition to a people-centred, environmentally accountable mannequin that respects the archipelago’s ecological and social wants.
Particularly, they’re calling for a halt to harmful lodge tasks throughout the islands and the constructing of a motor circuit on Tenerife; a moratorium on new vacationer developments; assured entry for residents to healthcare and housing; and a purposeful ecological vacationer tax.
The group additionally desires the quick introduction of measures to curb marine air pollution and the creation of an environmental restoration regulation.
Canary Islands obtain document variety of vacationers in March
Earlier this month, authorities introduced that the Canary Islands acquired greater than 1.55 million overseas guests in March, up 0.9 per cent on the document set in the identical month final yr.
The figures have been launched by the Canary Islands Nationwide Statistics Institute (INE), which added that the overall variety of worldwide vacationers for the primary quarter of 2025 was 4.36 million, a rise of two.1 per cent year-on-year.
The vacationer inflow comes regardless of dozens of protests staged final yr by Canary Island residents in opposition to mass tourism.
Related demonstrations have already taken place this yr. Over Easter, round 80,000 hospitality employees in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro walked out in a dispute with unions over pay.