Thousands protest in Spain's Canary Islands over mass tourism
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain, (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Tenerife on Saturday, calling for the Spanish island to temporarily limit tourist arrivals to stem a boom in short-term holiday rentals and hotel construction that is driving up housing costs for locals.
Holding placards reading People live here
and We don't want to see our island die
, demonstrators said changes must be made to the tourism industry that accounts for 35% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Canary Islands archipelago.
It's not a message against the tourist, but against a tourism model that doesn't benefit this land and needs to be changed,
one of the protesters told Reuters during the march in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Smaller marches were held elsewhere in the island group and other Spanish cities, all of them organised by about two dozen environmental organisations ahead of the peak summer holiday season.
