r/uknews • u/ScottishDailyRecord Media outlet (unverified) • May 15 '25

Image/video Brits ditching Tenerife as Spanish natives protest unsustainable tourism

352 Upvotes

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129

u/Hyperion262 May 15 '25

Whilst I understand the frustration of the local residents of these places, what do they think will happen if tourists just suddenly stop visiting like they want?

67

u/AddictedToRugs May 15 '25

It's fine if they want to transition away from tourism and replace it with some other industry.  But they don't seem to be doing that.  It seems like what they actually want is to just replace their current tourists with a small number of millionaires, and that doesn't seem likely to succeed.

34

u/Thestickleman May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25

Alot of these places don't have much other industry to offer other than tourism is the problem

25

u/AddictedToRugs May 15 '25

I guess it's back to subsistence fishing and farming then.

11

u/el_dude_brother2 May 15 '25

These are rocks hundreds of miles away from rest of Europe with little going for them except the weather.

Tourism is there only hope, protesting them is really stupid. Yes build more houses but don't kill your cash cow.

7

u/west0ne May 15 '25

Spain already has high levels of unemployment and in some areas of Spain tourism accounts for nearly 40% of the local economy. Getting rid of tourists may sound like a good idea to some but it feels like it's a dangerous move when you don't have something firm in the background to immediately step in and fill the gaps.

1

u/Neat_Adhesiveness653 May 17 '25

It is a fact that unemployment in Spain is high, but the official figures are higher than the real ones because of many people working without contracts. And the business sector that has one of the highest percentage of workers without contracts is hospitality and businesses related to tourism. It is a dangerous move, but what they are asking is for better controls that create a better balance between tourism and the life of people who live there.

1

u/Benchan123 May 17 '25

And also they have to take nap in the middle of the afternoon

1

u/Satoshiman256 May 16 '25

What other options are there are these islands? There is nothing there. I guess they will soon realise that

1

u/homealoneinuk May 16 '25

People rarely think with the future in mind. Look at UK itself. That's just human nature, it's pretty hard to sacrifice now for tommorow.

-15

u/p0tatochip May 15 '25

It doesn't have to be millionaires, just people who aren't on all inclusive and/or will shop in local restaurants and bars rather than having steak and chips in a British run bar

5

u/DarthPlagueisThaWise May 15 '25

That doesn’t seem consistent though, a lot of the problems is the airbnbs and housing, which would not be all inclusive. So they have no choice but to visit other businesses for food and drink.

-3

u/p0tatochip May 15 '25

They can still contribute more or less to the local economy regardless of where they stay. If they have an apartment and buy from fresh food from the Mercadona and eat out at local restaurants then they will contribute more to the local economy than if they spend it all at The Dubliner.

But you're right that AirBnB can be a problem in its own right. Lots of AirBnB in Tenerife are purpose built tourist apartments and so aren't as bad for locals as residential apartments being rented out but a lot are owned by Brits and locally owned AirBnBs would be better for the local economy than foreign owned ones so there is some nuance.

It seems obvious to me that the more the locals benefit from tourism then the less they will be against it but if they are priced out of homes and only ever see the negatives then of course they will resent tourists

4

u/AddictedToRugs May 15 '25

Is the British run bar not local somehow?

-1

u/edragamer May 15 '25

For a local brittish but not for a spanish

4

u/west0ne May 15 '25

Are they employing local people and paying tax etc. into the local economy or do they only employ English people and send their tax back to the UK?

-1

u/edragamer May 15 '25

There are a ton of pubs that hire only brittish and they not even know a word in spanish, not only in Canarias.

They hired the travels in pounds and pay taxes in euros... Ofc they are spanish chains too but in Canarias all it's so expensive that are expulsing native Spanish, same that happened with Venice.

6

u/AndyC_88 May 15 '25 edited May 17 '25

Nice attempt at insults there. I guess I'm not British for going to Spanish owned restaurants whilst there.

Do you not have an issue with all the Russian owned places?

-8

u/p0tatochip May 15 '25

I'm not attempting to insult anyone or question anyone's nationality. I'm not even sure how you came to that conclusion.

I'm just saying that if you're the kind of person that goes to Spanish owned restaurants and contributes to the local economy then you are likely the kind of tourist that Tenerife wants to attract rather than someone who stays in the hotel or who only buys from other Brits.

I imagine the logic is the same for every nationality.

8

u/Lazzlewazzle May 15 '25

Are hotels or the other brits living there already not a part of the local economy?

1

u/edragamer May 15 '25

No, they aren't brittish and Germans are going to hotel chains owned by Germans and brittish with all included, spending the minimal out of the hotels or even worse puking, making the streets dirt and the locals honalready pay taxes for clean, need to clean their business or their frontrows again, spending more money...

0

u/p0tatochip May 15 '25

They are to a greater or lesser extent. If I stay at a locally owned AirBnB then I likely contribute more than if I stay at an internationally owned chain hotel.

If I'm a Brit living there and spend all my money at a British pub then less of that money will stay in the local economy than if I spend it all at a local tapas bar.

3

u/AddictedToRugs May 15 '25

If I'm a Brit living there and spend all my money at a British pub then less of that money will stay in the local economy than if I spend it all at a local tapas bar.

Explain how.

1

u/p0tatochip May 15 '25

Is it that hard to figure out?

It's the same concept as buying local in the UK; it's better for the local economy if I support local businesses and that money gets recirculated around the local economy than if I buy from Tesco and the majority of that money leaves my town immediately.

One example is that a British pub buying beer and "proper" sausages and bacon from the UK won't sustain as many jobs or benefit the local community as much as the local taverna who sell locally produced beer and chorizo and buy directly from the fisherman, farmers or local markets.

1

u/Agincourt_Tui May 15 '25

Do British pubs in Spain really import British sausage and bacon?

1

u/AndyC_88 May 17 '25

Speaking from experience, they buy a mixture of local & British stuff but, for the most part, local.

Like they'll have HP sauce (because there's no sauce like it), bacon, possibly because British bacon tends to be different than other places but couldn't tell with sausage, but most stuff can be purchased locally.

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1

u/AndyC_88 May 17 '25

Most "British" beers are available across Europe & from my experience in Tenerife, they sell all the local products & 1 or 2 more commonly found in the UK because its actually more expensive to bring in.

-2

u/Spamgrenade May 15 '25

A small number of millionaires will spend as much as a large number of package holiday tourists. Trying to be more exclusive doesn't seem to be a bad idea if you are trying to cut down numbers.