The postcards of the tourist paradise of southern Gran Canaria hide a growing tension. While the National Institute of Statistics statistics celebrate a new record number of visitors, more than 1,55 million foreign tourists in March and 4,36 million in the first quarter of 2025, the populists of Las Palmas threaten to come to southern Gran Canaria to shout against the tourism that feeds the local population on May 18th, as if the economic capital of the Canary Islands were just like Tenerife.
The most visible face of the discontent is the citizen mobilizations. The Canarias Tiene Un Límite (Canary Islands Has a Limit) collective, made up mostly of civil servants and public sector employees, has called for a protest on all the islands on May 18th, and Maspalomas is just another stop on their journey to project a perverse image of the destination. The populists are demanding a tourism moratorium, control over vacation rentals, and urgent measures to guarantee access to housing. “The model is exhausted. It's no longer just an environmental issue, it's a matter of social survival,” the platform asserts.
Populists are taking advantage of the fact that the south of the island, which breaks records for overnight stays every year, still lacks clear policies to regulate tourist flow or protect the environment for the vacation industry. Urban beaches, nature reserves like the Maspalomas Dunes, and the surrounding rural areas are under constant pressure, mainly from people from Las Palmas and unscrupulous tourists from Europe who abuse illegal substances.
The income-generating areas of Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés, Meloneras, and the bulk of the island's accommodations are at the epicenter of an increasingly tense debate: the limits of the current tourism model. So far this year, tourist spending has also broken its own records, reaching €2.430 billion in March, 4,5% more than in 2024. But, according to workers and residents, this money has not translated into tangible improvements for the local population.
“We're in peak season year-round, but we're still facing impossible rents,” explains Marta Navarro, a chambermaid at a hotel in Playa del Inglés. Her testimony echoes that of thousands of workers who, like her, participated in an Easter strike in Tenerife that paralyzed parts of the sector on several islands. In Gran Canaria, unions plan to extend the strike if there's no progress. Tourism remains the backbone of the island's economy, especially in municipalities like San Bartolomé de Tirajana, where it accounts for more than 80% of the local GDP.
