Published October 20,2024
Subscribe
Thousands of individuals protested in vacation resorts in Spain‘s Canary Islands on Sunday towards overtourism which they are saying costs native individuals out of the housing market.
Under the slogan Canary Islands has a restrict, residents demonstrated concurrently in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro and known as for a change within the tourism mannequin for the islands.
In the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, protesters appeared on the seaside whereas vacationers had been sunbathing and chanted “This beach is ours.”
Activists claimed the arrival of hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly depletes restricted pure sources like water and damages the setting. At least 8,000 individuals took half, the Spanish authorities mentioned.
Between January and September, 9.9 million vacationers visited the Canary Islands, in line with the Spanish National Statistics Institute, 10.3% greater than in the identical interval in 2023. The islands’ inhabitants was 2.2 million final yr.
“We need a change in the tourist model so it leaves richness here, a change so it values what this land has because it is beautiful,” Sara Lopez, 32, informed Reuters in Gran Canaria on Sunday.
Tourism-dependent Spain has seen a collection of protests towards overtourism this yr in Barcelona, and different in style vacation locations like Mallorca and Malaga.
The Canary Islands regional authorities drafted a legislation which is anticipated to go this yr to toughen the principles on quick lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market.
Newly constructed properties will likely be barred from the short-let market and property house owners with a allow may have 5 years to adjust to necessities that embrace granting neighbours the suitable to object to those permits.
The Canary Islands determined to crack down on vacationer rents after the variety of non-public renters exploded lately.
On Saturday, a whole bunch of protesters took to the streets of Valencia to name for extra reasonably priced housing, saying vacationer flats push up costs.
Source: www.anews.com.tr