Angry locals have made their feelings clear over the appearance of graffiti calling on tourists to ‘go home’ which has been scrawled across parts of Tenerife in recent days.
‘Tourists go home’, ‘My misery, your paradise’ and ‘The average salary in the Canary Islands is €1,200’ have been written on walls and benches in and around the city of Palm Mar, sparking fierce debate online.
The apparent reference to low wages comes as locals face rising rents driven up by holiday rentals, as well as a rise in the cost of living due to inflation.
Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, has an economy largely built around tourism from Northern Europe.
But the vandalism has divided residents, who have taken to community forums to voice their opinions. Some support the message, while others ask whether creating a “lawless pigsty” of graffiti will help.
‘We hate the 16 million visitors a year, the island (has) collapsed and we have nowhere to go, like you. Go home!’ wrote one resident on Facebook.
“Everything is for tourists… this is our prison paradise,” wrote another. ‘Just try to understand us, local people. If you don’t(,) go home!’
Critics said it is ‘time to raise standards’ and not accept disrespectful tourists
One described a ‘prison paradise’ as the economy has transformed around tourists
“We hate the 16 million visitors a year,” wrote one user, expressing his strong feelings
‘MY MISERY YOUR PARADISE’: Islanders are apparently annoyed that people’s holidays are ruining their homes
‘TOURIST GO HOME’: Graffiti has appeared in the Canary Islands telling tourists to ‘go home’ and accusing holidaymakers of causing ‘misery’ to locals
Critics of the vandalism against several community groups called for the graffiti to be cleaned up and said they had contacted the relevant authorities.
Responding to some of the support for the slogans, one user wrote: “Do you really think living in a lawless pigsty will improve your children’s future?”
Another said: ‘It seems your actions disrespect the property of others.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit cowardly to go around at night spreading messages instead of getting up and campaigning for your beliefs?”
Some expressed support for tourism – the island’s largest industry – with comments such as ‘Without tourism there is no economy’ and ‘The whole of the Canary Islands could not survive in any form without tourists’
But others were critical of the type of tourism Tenerife attracts.
‘Nothing justifies vandalism, but people are fed up with it. We want a sustainable and respectful tourism that does not harm us and adapts to us, not us to them,” one person wrote.
‘If you receive my congratulatory message, you are welcome in MY country. If you don’t understand there’s a problem and you feel offended, it’s because you’re part of the problem.”
Another agreed: ‘Where I live (the Balearic Islands) we don’t want the kind of tourism that exists around Tenerife Sur. They contribute nothing and give our islands a bad name. What is needed is better tourism, not what we already have and that is getting worse every year.”
Tourism to the Canary Islands has increased steadily in recent years. Last year, the Minister of Tourism and Employment for the region said the archipelago had received “an influx of tourists of more than 16 million euros and a tourist turnover of 20,000 million euros.”
Presenting the figures as an advantage, she said: ‘To these good data it is added that the positive evolution of tourism employment indicators has grown by more than six percent and registered unemployment has fallen by more than nine percent compared to December 2022 .’
Tenerife itself, the largest of the islands, welcomed 5.6 million visitors last year, making it the most popular destination of the Spanish holiday islands – ahead of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
British tourists accounted for more than a third of the 14.1 million foreign travelers who traveled to the Canary Islands in total last year, according to figures. The Olive Press.
Facts shows that tourism to Tenerife rose steadily in the 2000s before taking a dip after the 2008 global financial crisis. With the exception of the pandemic, tourism has generally risen since then, largely led by holidaymakers from Britain.
While this brings benefits to the economy, residents face increased competition for accommodation and higher prices, living in an economy designed around the needs of tourists.
“The price increases are the problem because a house, apartment and some restaurants are only for tourists,” one user wrote sympathetically. ‘The salary is low, poor. I worked there. I understand the reaction.’
According to local outlet Canarian weeklyMany residents and environmental groups believe the government is over-reliant on tourism and is ruining the island for those who call it home.
Due to the high level of tourism, the rental price has increased because the demand is so high to keep up with the number of holiday guests.
It is said that there is a lot of traffic due to the large number of cars.
There was even a water emergency on Friday due to a lack of reserves, illustrating the pressure that tourism places on society.
It comes as politicians in Spain lobby to introduce new rules that will see bars and restaurants close earlier to protect workers in the tourism sector.
‘AVERAGE SALARY IN THE CANARY ISLANDS 1,200 EURO’: The ‘average salary’ marker refers to the low wages on the island compared to rising rents, rising interest rates and the cost of living due to inflation rates
‘TOURIST, RESPECT MY COUNTRY’: Islanders are said to be angry about the increase in tourist traffic
Yolanda Díaz, the country’s Minister of Employment and Social Economy, is facing a backlash over new proposals that would bring Spain more in line with European closing times by imposing restrictions on when hospitality businesses can operate.
“A country where its restaurants open at one in the morning is not reasonable,” she told Spain’s Congress on Monday. “It’s crazy to try to extend hours until I don’t know what time anymore.”
The suggestion was rejected by representatives of the hospitality and tourism sectors, who said Spain was thriving thanks to its unique offering – and that closing early would only benefit Spain’s competitors in the tourism sector.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Community of Madrid, responded to a video of Díaz’s speech on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Spain has the best nightlife in the world, with streets full of life and freedom. And that also creates employment.
‘They want us puritans, materialists, socialists, without souls, without light and without restaurants because they feel like it. Bored and at home.’