The demonstration "Canary Islands have a limit" called in the islands and in different parts of the Peninsula is giving a lot to talk about. They demand to stop the growth of a developmental tourism model, which deteriorates our resources and worsens the quality of life of residents. They demand that urgent measures be taken to alleviate the negative impacts that our current economic model generates.
The movement has caused enormous concern, mainly among the political and business class. Some voices try to discredit a historical claim, using lies as their main allied tool. They try to make it appear that the demonstrations are a danger to our economic engine of the islands. To do this, they use tourismophobia, an absolutely distorted and prostituted term.
There is no tourismophobia, there is a social reaction against the current inequalities caused by our current tourism model. It seems that the current governing group, clearly allied with the tourism and business associations of the Canary Islands, do not understand the demands. It is enough to know the economic and social reality of the islands.
They continue with the illusory discourse of the "main economic engine" and that, as the president of Ashotel, Gabriel Wolgeschaffen, recently said, "the cow that gives milk must be left alone." But the reality is that the cow gives milk to a few and the economic engine has not been moving our land forward for some time. Tourism in the Canary Islands is doing excellently well, with a historical record in both tourists and income. However, the benefits are not being reversed in Canarian society as one would expect from an activity that is the "engine" of the islands. While a few get rich, many others get poorer.
In the words of Oswaldo Betancort, president of the Island Council of Lanzarote, "magnifying saturation is a political irresponsibility." Political irresponsibility is trying to delegitimize a vindictive, democratic and peaceful movement, insinuating that the citizens are not really behind these calls. These are simplistic speeches, which demonstrate an absolute lack of knowledge about the economic and social reality of the islands. Citizens express a general discomfort due to the lack of concern and policies by public administrations, which are capable of providing solutions to the daily problems of the majority of the working class. The Canary Islands suffer the consequences of a massive tourism model, intensive in the consumption of strategic resources of the territory.
Especially after the pandemic, political parties and employers promised a change of sustainable model, more equitable that took into account the serious problems that the current tourism model was causing. But the speeches remained in false promises. Far from assuming their responsibility, they continue with the dirty political game. Let's be serious, all the current political forces that have had and continue to exercise power, have responsibility.
Coalición Canaria has been governing for thirty years. The Popular Party, now concerned about the tourist image of the islands, was one of the promoters of oil exploration in the Canary Islands, which put our natural resources and the very integrity of the tourist activity at risk. The Socialist Party, Podemos and Nueva Canarias, have been governing for the last four years. The paralysis in the tourism sector caused by COVID-19 was an excellent opportunity to listen to and address citizen demands. But the measures did not arrive.
As a Tourism student and future professional in the sector, I demand a change in the economic model of the islands. Lanzarote can no longer bear the consequences of an excessively developmental model, more interested in satisfying the needs of a few, than of the entire citizenry.
Those same "reactionaries" tired of working in precarious conditions, in exchange for a miserable salary, are the ones who bring the sector forward. Undoubtedly, the working class is the one that has the most information about the reality of the tourist activity, do not forget it.
We need an imminent and consensual debate by all the agents involved. But they should not only remain in easy and populist speeches. Urgent measures must be taken that are up to the social, economic and territorial realities of the islands. Now is the time to raise our voices for the defense of our rights. Present actions will condition the future of generations to come.
