A record breaking 17 million tourists are set to descend on the Canary Islands this year as 70,000 locals are expected to attend a protest about overtourism. In 2023, there were 16.2 million visitors to the island chain, but tensions in the Middle East could mean more people choosing to holiday in the Canaries.
Spanish language news website El Diario, citing agencies including the Canary Islands government agency, Instituto Canario de Estadística, reports that 2024 will set an all time tourism record.
It pointed to indicators showing visitor number growth of 10 percent, leading the publication to predict the record would be broken.
The estimate comes at a tense time on the islands, with angry locals due to take to the streets in a mass protest against overtourism on Saturday (April 20). Express.co.uk understands some 70,000 people will join the protests.
Marching under the banner “Canarias tiene un limite”, which translates to “the Canary Islands have a limit”, demonstrations are due to be held across the archipelago’s eight islands.
Hoteliers, restaurateurs, bar and cafe owners will no doubt welcome the extra numbers though.
Tensions in the Middle East led Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to advise against travel to tourism hotspots in the region, including Egypt and Jordan as well as Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa.
Concerns over safety are likely to mean people will opt for Spain and the Canary Islands as safer holiday bets than countries in the troubled region.
During the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, the Canary Islands saw visitor numbers increase by about one million more than had been expected, according to El Diario.
The recovery of the Canary Island’s tourism sector after the Covid pandemic has been stellar, attracting more foreign visitors in 2023 than Brazil and Australia combined.
Meanwhile, the Canary Islands’ government has launched a new strategy which it says will transform the destination’s tourism model to favour locals.
But the government published a report in December 2022 saying the islands have the capacity for up to 23 million tourists a year. The Canary Islands’ population is just 2.2 million.
And despite decades of mass tourism, the Canary Islands are the second poorest region in Spain. The average salary in the Canary Islands is the lowest in Spain and a recent news report in Canarias Ahora said young Canarians would have to spend 99.4 percent of their salary on housing if they want to leave home.
Local concerns also include resorts cementing over beloved landscapes, pressure on limited resources such as water, creaking local infrastructure, traffic jams, and affordable housing.
The Canary Islands are also biodiversity hotspots, with dramatic and fragile environments. But locals say limited resources are being squandered, National Parks saturated and unique landscapes cemented over for “sustainable tourism”.
One proposal is to impose a tourist tax, but the authorities are under pressure from powerful hotelier and construction lobbies fearing it will scare tourists away.
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