Santa Cruz DE TENERIFE, Spain, April 20 (Reuters) On Saturday, thousands of Tenerife residents demonstrated for the Spanish island to temporarily limit....
...visitor arrivals to curb a boom in short-term vacation rentals and hotel building that is raising local housing costs.
Protesters held posters stating "People live here" and "We don't want to see our island die" to demand improvements to the Canary Islands' 35% GDP tourism industry.
"It's not a message against the tourist, but against a tourism model that doesn't benefit this land and needs to be changed," a demonstrator told Reuters in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
About two dozen environmental groups organized smaller marches in the island group and other Spanish towns before the summer holiday season.
Local authorities should temporarily reduce visitor numbers to relieve pressure on the islands' environment, infrastructure, and housing stock and restrict foreign property acquisitions, according to the organizations.
"The government must quickly end this crooked and harmful paradigm that depletes resources and threatens the economy.
Canary Islanders have limits and patience "Protest leader Antonio Bullon said Reuters.