Chilling rise of anti-tourism protests as resorts get set for summer misery – but should you still go on your holiday?
WITH budget airlines offering flights out of rain-soaked Britain for just £25, it’s little wonder that thousands of families are flocking to Tenerife for the Easter holidays.
Despite eco-protesters’ attempts to drive foreigners out, the resorts are already packed with tourists jetting in to make the most of the year-round warm weather and knock-down prices in the party paradise.
Pints of chilled lager cost just €1.50 and a litre of fruity sangria will set you back only eight euros.
It’s so busy on the main drag that punters searching for a spot to soak up cut-price booze in the Spanish sunshine are being turned away by bar owner Tara Scarlata.
Every seat at her popular British pub on the bustling beachfront strip is taken — even though a recent spate of protesters claimed that tourists are no longer welcome in Tenerife.
But Tara insists holidaymakers in the resort of Adeje should not worry.
Although there is a rising tide of anti-tourism sentiment seeping across the region, her pub The Beer Garden is defiantly packed out day and night.
“Look around you — we’re busier than we’ve ever been,” said Tara, who is among the business owners begging the British not to boycott.
‘It’s busy – and summer season hasn’t started yet’
“We just had our best week ever celebrating St Patrick’s Day and the Cheltenham races out here.
“Every table was booked in advance.
“Nothing is putting the British or the Irish off coming to Tenerife.”
Foreign visitors are being blamed for traffic gridlock, unaffordable housing and pollution on the island.
Guerilla-style vandals hell-bent on destruction recently blasted the holiday hotspot with graffiti — and a fleet of rental cars were set on fire.
Disgruntled activists scrawled “Tourists Go Home” on walls, and the chilling message “Kill A Tourist” was daubed across the front of a house.
Arsonists also attacked the controversial luxury housing development Cuna del Alma last month.
Tara, 40, has been living in Tenerife for 11 years with her husband Chris.
She added: “Those were isolated incidents.
“We certainly don’t want tourists to go home — it’s the last thing any local bars, restaurants or hotels would say.
“We want people to carry on booking their holidays as normal.
“There is nothing to feel anxious about.
“The island is growing, and the government needs to invest in roads and affordable housing to grow with it, but it’s not a major issue.
“Tenerife is still buzzing.”
It has long been a favourite destination for generations of sun-seekers ever since mass tourism transformed the peaceful fishing villages into teeming towns rammed with nightclubs and sprawling hotel complexes.
Now, more than six million of us visit each year.
Beer Garden regular Mandy Peters, a retired teacher from Hull, has been coming since the Eighties.
She said: “Yes, we have heard about the eco warriors and their little protests but it’s all nonsense and certainly not something that is likely to put us off coming here.
“There is such a friendly atmosphere.
“It does not feel like an unsafe place.”
British lawyer John Hatrick agrees that tourists are the lifeblood of the island.
We met at a corner cafe which serves full English breakfasts for less than four quid by day, and transforms into a rowdy karaoke bar at night.
Waving his arm towards the teeming pavements, John said: “You can see it’s already busy, even though the summer season hasn’t even started properly yet.
“Yes, some locals roll their eyes at tourists and their drunken behaviour but most of us appreciate how important tourism is, and rely on it to make a living — it’s a necessary evil.
“It’s not tourism that’s causing the environmental problems but the amount of digital nomads and retirees who relocate here for a better quality of life.
“Locals are being pushed out of affordable housing by Airbnbs, and there may be the odd isolated knee-jerk reaction, but we appreciate how important tourism is.
“We want people to keep coming.
“Everyone has a right to protest peacefully but when it descends into violence or criminal damage, that’s unacceptable.”
Demonstrators intend to disrupt the island’s party scene with further upheaval in the next few weeks.
“The protests will continue, and they will increase,” warned sound engineer Brian Harrison, 57, from Bridgend in South Wales, who has lived on the island for 30 years.
“In late April, another major protest is being planned.
“The situation is already critical, and if the politicians here do not resolve the issues, it will get worse.”
Brian says the region is struggling to handle the huge annual influx of visitors, and the soaring costs of holiday rentals are squeezing locals out.
‘Peaceful means have been exhausted’
Last year, almost 18million tourists visited the Canary Islands which also include Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.
But local businesses were exasperated by a long hot summer of angry demonstrations which blighted many of the most popular destinations.
They branded the placard-waving protesters “d***heads” after they disrupted sunbathers on Troya beach, beating drums, blowing whistles and shouting “More tourists, more misery”.
Tourists were booed and jeered by marchers in Palma, Mallorca, last May and in July activists from a group called Lanzarote Has A Limit stormed a hotel in Playa Blanca.
The same month, more than 3,000 people joined a rally in Barcelona against overcrowding caused by tourists, and around 250 protesters used their bodies to shape the message “SOS” on a busy beach in Menorca.
Weeks later, thousands took to the streets of Malaga in protest too.
And visitors to Ibiza were alarmed last month when access to Es Vedra, a popular sunset viewing point, was blocked off with boulders.
But Tenerife appears to be the hardest hit.
Softly spoken and barefoot, hippy Roberto Mesa was among the eco warriors who took drastic action by joining a 20-day hunger strike when new 883-bed hotel development La Tejita Beach Club Resort was allocated 40,000 litres of water per day — despite a drought.
According to Roberto and his group Salvar el Puertito de Adeje, tourists use up to six times more water than local residents, foreigners are buying one in three homes and there are plans for more than one million square metres of new golf courses, each using the equivalent of 16,400 people’s water consumption.
And they say additional environmental problems are caused by the rubbish and sewage generated by tourists.
Roberto, 35, described the situation as “a ticking time bomb” as resentful locals being driven into poverty by rising property prices feel ignored.
He also warned: “Peaceful means have been exhausted.
“If no changes are made, things will only get worse.
“We’ve led activist struggles — not only through legal means, but also through mass demonstrations, risking our lives climbing cranes, camping for months on a bulldozer, going on hunger strikes.
“We’ve received sanctions and even beatings.”
Roberto was among those who shared a disturbing video of the most recent protest via social media.
Although their faces are obscured, the short clip shows an aggressive group pouring petrol and burning around 20 rental cars to the sinister tune of the Jaws theme.
A major bone of contention is the high number of cars clogging up already congested roads.
Roberto said: “We don’t need more roads, we need fewer rental cars.
“Although we’ve achieved some things, the party continues, and the islands continue to be divided up at everyone’s expense.
“But it is no longer paradise.”
While activists hatch fresh plans for destruction, Tara, John, and the scores of expats simply trying to make a living in Tenerife are braced for another summer of misery.
Politicians to blame
NO one likes to feel they are not welcome – and although the protesters are in the minority, the publicity they garner could have serious consequences., writes Lisa Minot
Holidaymakers do have a choice, and if they feel they are going to be met with animosity, they will look elsewhere.
There’s never been more choice for Brits wanting to jet off for their annual summer break, and an ever-more sophisticated travelling public have the confidence to look for something new and different.
Blaming tourists – and not the decisions of governments who have taken too long to regulate the Airbnb-style market that has led to serious shortages of homes for locals – is short-sighted.