You might say that we need to protect the elderly in El Hierro so they have clean homes, up-to-date pharmacy products in Tegueste, or pay for that general interest activity for the Ministry of Culture called the Arucas Festival in Las Palmas. In the south of Gran Canaria, that sun and beach hub that is Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés, or Mogán, we're sold a resounding success story, a five-year period of "tourism-driven prosperity" that, at first glance, seems almost miraculous. The data, which always needs to be scrutinized, demonstrates a reduction in poverty or social exclusion (the famous AROPE indicator), which has fallen from 41,8% to 31,2% in ten years. And the municipalities with the most hotel beds boast unemployment rates significantly lower than the Canary Islands average. Beautiful figures, no doubt, that seem to support the mantra that tourism is the panacea. But, as almost always, miracles in the economy usually come with a catch.
The "relevant role" of tourism as a driving force is emphasized, that multiplier effect where for every 100 euros generated directly, 44,3 are added in other sectors, and for every 100 jobs, 44 indirectly. A perfect machine, one might say. Commerce, services, construction... all blessed by tourist demand.
While we are glorified by regulated tourism, that of traditional hotels, the phenomenon of Tourist Accommodations (VUT), that Trojan horse in the model, sneaks in through the back door. And the fiscal comparison presented to us by the Canary Islands Government is priceless: a 3- or 4-star hotel generates €8.213 in tax revenue per room per year. A professionally managed VUT generates just €2.773. And if the VUT is individually owned, the figure plummets to €1.103.
The tax contribution is dramatically lower. In other words, while the "model" boasts of its benefits, the "VUT" phenomenon robs us of tax revenue, decapitalizing the public coffers' ability to reinvest in those services that sustain "prosperity." A true black hole in the system.
But the final straw comes with the analysis of human traffic. It turns out that in 2024, that year of supposed prosperity and record-breaking activity, only 15% of the average daily human traffic in the Canary Islands was due to tourists. The remaining 85%, friends, is the resident population. And the increase in that daily human traffic by 147.000 people since 2019 (+5,9%) has a name and surname that no one is interested in saying out loud: more than half, 55,6% (82.000 people), is due to the increase in registered residents.
And here's the fact that the prophets of "sustainable tourism" should engrain in their minds: of that increase in daily tourists contributing to the pressure (65.000 on average), 67,8% are tourists staying in VUTs! In other words, the official model sells us the idea that tourism creates prosperity, but it hides the fact that a growing part of this "prosperity" comes from an increase in the resident population that puts pressure on services and tourism, VUTs, which contribute a pittance in taxes compared to hotels.
So, in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, they praise the reduction in unemployment. The real story is that the tourism boom has been accompanied by a bubble of holiday homes that don't pay the same amount of taxes, and by a population increase that the system doesn't always absorb with the same ease. The story of prosperity is undeniable in the macro figures, but the subtle details, the ones that bother us, the ones that lay bare the harsh reality, tell us that this "prosperity" has significant flaws, and that we are all footing the bill for overcrowding, the lack of housing, and strained services, while a few enjoy a model that is a real fiscal bargain. The story of southern Gran Canaria is one of success, yes, but a success with asterisks, with small print, and with the specter of unsustainability looming around every corner. And that, dear reader, is not a miracle; it is the consequence of not looking beyond the bottom line.
