Canary Islands tourism grows despite protests | World | News

this Canary Islands As of May, the country received a total of 649.334 million tourists, an increase of 10.68% over the same period last year.

Spain is set to have a record tourist season, with more than 33 million international tourists arriving by May, a 13.6% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

The United Kingdom remains Spain’s largest source of tourists, with more than 6.3 million visitors from January to May this year, an increase of 10.6%.

In May alone, Spain welcomed 9.3 million international tourists, an increase of 11.5% from May 2023, and spending reached 11.687 billion euros, a significant increase of 19.7% over the same period last year.

In May, the UK topped the list with more than 1.9 million visitors, up 5.7% from May 2023. French visitors reached 1.3 million, up 11.7%, while German visitors reached 1.2 million, up 9.3%.

Earlier, thousands of locals took to the streets to protest against mass tourism in the popular holiday city.

Locals in the Canary Islands are protesting a tourism model they say is destroying the environment, making them unaffordable to buy homes and forcing them into precarious work.

Last month, demonstrators marched through Menorca and Mallorca against a “massive expansion” of tourists in the Spanish island region.

“We want the authorities to ban people who haven’t lived here for more than five years from buying properties and to impose more controls on holiday accommodation,” said Carme Reines, a member of the collective organising the protest in Palma de Mallorca.

There have been further protests in recent weeks by residents of Barcelona, ​​the Canary Islands and Malaga.

Despite local concerns, Spain’s Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, recently said: “Spain is an attractive destination for international tourists, as can be seen in the tourist arrivals data for May. But what is most striking is the growth in average spending per tourist, which has outpaced inflation and has contributed to the modernization of the sector, sustainability and the quality of employment.”

The minister stressed that tourism in inland Spain was booming in May, outperforming that in the Mediterranean and islands.

“The government will continue to work on sustainable development, decentralization and depersonalization so that Spain continues to be one of the favorite countries for international tourists,” Herreu stressed.