A British journalist has urged residents in the Canary Islands to tone down their anti-tourism campaigns amid fears that a declining number of Brits visiting the archipelago might leave the Canaries worse off financially.
In a comment piece for Majorca Daily Bulletin, Humphrey Carter pointed out that tourism has generated “massive wealth for many individuals and become the main economy for the Balearics and numerous other parts of Spain” – although fails to really touch on how factors inspiring the protests might be solved.
He acknowledges that locals have started pointing the finger at tourists for causing “over saturation and a strain on natural resources and the environment”. He says the Canaries’ residents have been “up in arms over mass tourism” and that it was getting “a bit tasty” – with slogans like “tourists go home” beginning to pop up in various resorts.
Expanding on the bad energy, he explained that protesting locals have “demanded an eco tax” for tourists to pay for the “irreparable damage they have caused to the island”. In addition, social and environmental groups waved banners reading “The Canaries are no longer paradise”, and “The Canaries are not for sale”.
Despite calling the protests a “dangerous game to play”, Mr Carter’s main line of argument against this that directly addresses the points made seems to be that fewer tourists will mean “costs” will be made harder to pay. He doesn’t provide any evidence to back himself up though.
He goes on to say that discouragement for tourists to come might actually make them not come and that “climate change” will impact things.
The main debate appears to be whether tourism is causing environmental problems that are more expensive than the money they bring in. However, there is an added layer to the issue – that locals are unhappy regardless of the environment, because the place they call home is now overcrowded with foreigners and gated holiday resorts.
Limiting man-made climate change – which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and destruction of nature – is vital to human security. It increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, droughts and heatwaves, meaning that food is harder to grow.
The UK is soon to feel the effects of an olive oil shortage, for example – once the nation gets through its current batch-bought supply from long ago, the imports will dry up as Spain’s recent growing season was severely impacted by extreme weather.
Other problems include the migration of disease-carrying animals, such as mosquitoes, to more northern parts of the globe – into countries that may not have the medical infrastructure to deal with such influxes.
Also on the list is rising sea levels – Express.co.uk has published a map of parts of the UK that may soon be unlivable. Moreover, more frequent flooding and storm surges will increase the transmission of water-borne diseases, as well as damaging key infrastructure like electricity pylons or train tracks.
