Lanzarote locals stage 'we love tourism' rally hours after UK tourists ordered to 'go home'

Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Lanzarote to show their support for tourism in the area, just hours after British holidaymakers were ordered to ‘go home’ by locals. Marching under the banner ‘Lanzarote loves tourism’, locals marched through the resort of Puerto del Carmen on Sunday evening saying tourists were 'not to blame' for the problems in the country.

It came as anti-tourism protests continued to spread across the Canary Islands - a popular route from Birmingham - with UK tourists reportedly ‘forced to flee’ the area. Supporters of the 'Canary Islands Have a Limit' group have said mass tourism was pricing local people out of the housing market and impacting their quality of life.

On Sunday, at least 8,000 people took part in the protests across Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro - with locals reportedly chanting ‘this beach is ours’ at British tourists at the Playa de las Americas resort in Tenerife. Just hours after the mass protest, a group of counter-protestors in Lanzarote took to the streets in defence of tourism saying tourists were always ‘welcome’ on the island.

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Augusto Ferreira, a restaurant owner from Puerto del Carmen, was one of the promoters of the ‘Lanzarote Loves Tourism’ march. He said fears of mass tourism were being stoked by politicians ‘playing politics’, and many locals in Lanzarote relied on holidaymakers for their livelihoods.

He told local well-known news programme A Buena Hora: “I have walked many streets these days visiting businesses and talking to people. I have heard very nice stories from people who say their family lives off tourism, and that thanks to tourism they are what they are.

“A man in Playa Blanca thanked me for what I am doing, he told me to keep going, that he supported me and that his whole family would be there. That is what gives me the energy and strength to continue with this idea, which is to send a clear message to the world that we do not want to provoke a confrontation with tourists who are certainly not to blame for the problems that have been generated on the Island in recent years.”

The pro-tourism march in Lanzarote followed the same route as the anti-tourism demonstration hours earlier. According to Spanish media, many tourists in Puerto del Carmen ‘cheered and applauded’ them as they went past.

“I saw they were going to hold another demonstration in the centre of Puerto del Carmen with tourists there,” Mr Ferreira added. “Something had to be done. What we cannot allow to happen is for wrong messages to be sent out about what Lanzarote is really like.”

Between January and September this year, 9.9 million tourists visited the Canary Islands, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute. Anti-tourism activists say the arrival of millions of visitors every year depletes limited natural resources like water and damages the environment.

Spain has seen a series of protests against perceived ‘over tourism’ this year in Barcelona, and other popular holiday destinations like Mallorca and Malaga. The Canary Islands regional government drafted a law which is expected to pass this year to toughen the rules on short lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market.