How much does tourism in the south of Gran Canaria generate for paying the bill for wasteful projects like Metroguagua in Las PalmasIn this archipelago where the sea breeze sometimes hides the stench of political hypocrisy, the figures from the IMPACTUR study have just fallen like a slab on the official narrative. Because if there's an economic engine in the Canary Islands, a veritable wealth factory that supports the framework of the island's welfare state, it is, without a doubt, tourism, with Maspalomas and the rest of southern Gran Canaria leading the way. And what do they do in Las Palmas with the money raised in the south of the island? These days you can see it during the foundation celebrations with the fireworks at Las Canteras, the little beach without a Blue Flag that sells itself as the best urban beach in the world, ignoring Rio de Janeiro.
The data doesn't lie, and they are especially revealing when you look at southern Gran Canaria. In municipalities like San Bartolomé de Tirajana—the same one that houses Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés—or Mogán, the connection between a robust tourism model and prosperity is undeniable. While the registered unemployment rate across the Canary Islands hovers around 7,8%, in San Bartolomé de Tirajana it stands at a paltry 6,4%, and in Mogán, at an even more enviable 4,9%. Furthermore, the reduction in unemployment since 2019 is striking: 27,3% less in San Bartolomé de Tirajana and 27,7% less in Mogán. This is no coincidence; it is a direct consequence of hosting tens of thousands of tourist accommodation beds that consistently generate employment.
But tourism's contribution goes far beyond direct employment in these municipalities. The IMPACTUR study paints a brutal picture: in 2023, tourism contributed a staggering €3.134 billion in tax revenue to the Canary Islands' public coffers. This amount represents almost 40% of the archipelago's total revenue. In other words, four out of every ten euros handled by the regional government come from tourism, the very activity that many insist on vilifying.
And here comes the reality check, the fact that should make more than one councilor and more than one activist blush: those 3.134 billion euros in tax revenue linked to tourism cover the entire expenditure on public education in the Canary Islands (2.399 billion euros in 2023). And not only that; they represent 87,4% of healthcare spending (3.576 billion euros). Read this carefully, without embellishment or euphemisms: your children's schools, care in hospitals and health centers, the salaries of teachers and doctors... all of this, in an overwhelming proportion, is paid for by taxes generated by tourists who visit, among others, the beaches and hotels of Maspalomas and Mogán.
While certain sectors of politics and public opinion are engrossed in debates about "massification," "tourismophobia," or "degrowth"—ideas that, by the way, are never accompanied by a credible plan to replace the €3.000 billion in revenue and one million direct and indirect jobs—the reality is that tourism is the financial pillar of the Canary Islands' autonomous region. The narrative of unsustainability is increasingly audible, yes. But hypocrisy is paramount when one bites the hand that feeds. The south of Gran Canaria, with Maspalomas at the forefront, is not just a vacation destination; it is a tax and job factory that sustains, with its ups and downs, the precarious edifice of well-being on these islands. And anyone who doesn't want to see it simply prefers ideology to the harsh, but inescapable, economic reality.
