A scandal between tourists, local authorities, and residents is brewing in yet another paradise town — this time, in the Canary Islands. “The Canaries are no longer a paradise!”, “We don’t want any more tourists either!” – With these slogans, the residents went to the demonstration.
This tourist phobia was supported by the whole island, following the example of the famous town from Austria, which became the prototype of the kingdom in the Disney cartoon “Frozen” – details here.
At the same time, as reported by CBN, the local authorities of the Canary Islands are on the side of tourists. They urged residents to abandon their “tourist-phobia” because tourists are needed to stimulate the island’s economy. New Tourism Minister Jessica de León has urged residents to change their minds for the sake of the economy – tourism accounts for 35% of the Canaries’ GDP, she says, and touristophobia is a cause for concern.
But it doesn’t seem to work anymore. “The Canary Islands are no longer a paradise” and “The Canary Islands are not for sale” – these are the slogans of outraged locals. “Mass tourism has destroyed many natural spaces throughout the archipelago and caused the degradation of many others due to the constant pressure exerted by the 13 million tourists who visit the islands each year.” They demand to at least reduce the number of vacant rooms in hotels and limit the construction of new ones.
We will remind that the return of tourists once again “boiled” protests against overtourism, and in the most unexpected places. Yes, recently with posters: “We don’t want any tourists!” left Hallstatt, a small but very popular town in Europe among tourists. The town began to “suffer” in 2006 when a South Korean drama was filmed there. As a result, an idyllic area located in the Alps on the shores of the lake of the same name, where only one thousand people live, suffers from the influx of tens of thousands of tourists. Moreover, they do not bring a lot of money, coming to take selfies at famous “movie spots” and leaving.
Recently, residents installed temporary walls in places where tourists often took selfies, but were met with negative reactions. Now the local authorities are considering the introduction of restrictions on visits to preserve the peace of Austrians. Read details here.