UK holidaymakers warning for Canary Islands including Lanzarote and Tenerife

It is feared Brits’ love of the likes of Lanzarote is a bad thing for the area

UK holidaymakers are being warned about travelling to the Canary Islands, including popular spots like Lanzarote and Tenerife. Officials on these beloved islands have raised concerns that tourism is “exploiting” these holiday hotspots.

Despite a booming tourism industry, Spanish authorities are worried about increasing poverty and declining living standards for locals. They’re finding it hard to afford homes in the most desired areas of Tenerife and Lanzarote, reports the Mirror.

Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands government, admitted this week that tourism is the archipelago’s “leading industry”, potentially to its detriment, according to the Mirror. He called on the sector to support other industries such as agriculture, and to increase wages to better distribute wealth.

Try BristolLive Premium for FREE with no ads and new features

Roughly 36% of the island’s population – around 780,000 people – are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The Canary Islands president acknowledged that “the rich are richer and the poor are poorer”, with 3% of the population of the archipelago accumulating 58% of the wealth.

Casimiro Curbelo, president of the Cabildo de La Gomera which is in charge of the landscape and forestry on the islands, doesn’t want to change the current tourism model but wants to improve it to “achieve excellence”. The Canary Islands are Spain’s third most visited region internationally.

He expressed shock that while the tourism sector on the Canary Islands is booming, the general society is becoming poorer. He stressed the need to understand “what is wrong”.

Mr Clavijo emphasised that the tourism sector “must be aware” of its “responsibility” towards society as it benefits from a “landscape” that “belongs to everyone”. In this regard, he highlighted that public administrations must provide “help”.

The Canary Islands, a volcanic archipelago off Morocco’s coast in the North Atlantic Ocean, are a popular holiday spot. The islands, formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, include the oldest island, Fuerteventura, which is over 20 million years old. The other islands, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, followed in that order.

Mr Curbelo said “there is no need to change” the tourism model in the Canary Islands, but it needs to be “improved” to “make it more competitive and sustainable”. He called on Mr Clavijo to collaborate with public institutions to tackle the “structural deficits” of poverty and unemployment.

Earlier this month, two academics at Las Palmas University told the Mirror about the challenges faced by these holiday hotspots, including a severe sewage problem, a chronic housing shortage and traffic chaos.

The academics were clear that the Spanish islands still welcome visitors from all over the world, despite the challenges they face. Professor Carmelo J. Leon and Dr Matias Gonzalez Hernandez both agreed that tourism isn’t a problem, but it needs to be managed better to protect locals and the environment.