The civil servants and public employees who demonstrated against the destination in Maspalomas on Sunday, there were hardly any people from the south of the island, almost all of them came from Las Palmas, and this has generated the predictable digital footprint just when the destination begins its peak tourist season. The image of tourists from Tenerife besieged by the demonstrations has gone around the world, as has that of tourists' children crying because of the noise. This Monday, tour operators will begin to put downward pressure on bed prices.
This Sunday's event in the south of Gran Canaria is the first in a series of mobilisations that have already diverted purchases of hotel bed packages to Turkey because the Canary Islands, mainly Tenerife as at the time of Covid19, are considered a risk destination. The demonstrations took place in the archipelago's tourist destinations, including San Bartolomé de Tirajana. The organisers estimated that around 5.000 people attended, while local authorities reported between 1.000 and 2.000 attendees.
Under the slogan 'The Canary Islands have a limit', the protesters called on the government to adopt a new model for managing tourism. Among their demands were a tourist tax for foreign visitors, a moratorium on short-term rentals, higher wages for workers in the tourism sector and restrictions on the purchase of housing by non-residents. Some protesters chanted: 'It's not tourism, it's colonialism'. The protests were organised as a continuation of the one on 20 April, which brought together tens of thousands of people. The organisers claim that the government has not yet taken measures to address their demands.
