The call for demonstrations in the Islands for next April 20 constitutes a citizen's wake-up call regarding the current tourism model and its dysfunctions. They do not necessarily have to be an act of encouragement for the tourism phobia that has been occurring in numerous saturated tourist destinations in different parts of the world. This is fueled when tourism is not sustainable, when it deteriorates the territory and the environment, when it influences the increase in difficulties in accessing housing for the local population, when it displaces residents from their neighborhoods and ends their small businesses, when it does not sufficiently impact the well-being of the majority... When governments look the other way and do not address the distortions of an industry that is and will continue to be fundamental for this land and its inhabitants.
It is not the first time that the Canary Islands has carried out a debate of these characteristics. A debate that should involve a broad collective reflection and the corresponding decision-making. We did it in the Government of the Canary Islands that I had the honor of presiding over between 1999 and 2003. At the beginning of this century, Canarian society debated intensely about tourism, its present and future. With the participation of political parties, business and union organizations, island councils and municipalities, universities, environmental movements, professional associations...
A process that began with Law 6/2001 on urgent measures in the area of Territorial Planning and Tourism of the Canary Islands, better known as the tourism moratorium - which declassified 400,000 beds, including the 20,000 in Veneguera, whose protection was definitively shielded in Law 6/2003 declaring the Veneguera ravine as a protected natural space - and which culminated with the approval of the tourism planning guidelines in 2003, by unanimous vote of the Parliament of the Canary Islands. A moratorium, that of the beginning of this century, perfectly articulated in its legal aspects, which did not cost the Canarian public coffers a single euro: all the lawsuits filed were ruled in favor of the Government in the courts.
What the guidelines proposed continues to be fully valid: the renunciation of further occupation of territory, betting on the renovation of obsolete accommodation; the updating and improvement of tourist cities; the diversification and qualification of the offer; or the essential permanent training of personnel. The law of the guidelines also included limitations on tourism growth, conditioned to quality criteria. As you can see, they coincide with many of the proposals that are being raised today. Unfortunately, the guidelines were repealed, de facto, by subsequent governments. Which, without a doubt, has contributed to the repetition of some problems of the past and the reopening of the debate today.
Advances and distortions
What has happened since then? A set of positive and negative elements. Positive is, of course, the notable increase in the quality of the accommodation. Also the greater weight of Canarian entrepreneurs in the sector. The increase in spending at the destination that has been occurring in recent years. The better training of many of its professionals. Better working conditions, although we must continue to move forward. A greater qualification and diversification of the offer: gastronomic, cultural, sports... a set of factors that allow us to be a solid world reference in tourism.
But, like any economic sector, tourism involves distortions. Agriculture, livestock or industry also have them; in territorial and environmental aspects. In the case of tourism, the impact of 16 million annual visitors stands out, as well as the significant population growth (more than 560,000 people so far this century), based mainly on the pull effect of the Canarian economy and its growth model.
An increase in visitors and residents that implies more demands on health and education infrastructure. Greater energy and water consumption. More needs in water purification and waste treatment. More difficulties in mobility with permanent collapses on the roads. More problems of access to housing.
Lanzarote, which began the moratorium requests more than 30 years ago, has lacked island planning since 1991 and continues to issue licenses for new hotels. Those who, like ATI-CC in Tenerife, have governed the island for forty years, promoting unbridled growth, determined to continue breaking numerical records of tourists, objectively contribute to the fact that a limit situation has been reached; with electrical, water, housing or mobility emergencies. And far from rectifying, they are committed to new macro projects and infrastructures that further saturate the island: Cuna del Alma, El Mojón, Fonsalía... To infinity and beyond.
As I pointed out at the beginning, we must not demonize those who, from the citizenry, intend to debate our development model and, specifically, tourism and its environmental, territorial and social impact; legitimately claiming something that is not happening within the framework of the institutions. Nor should we hold the entire business community responsible for everything that happens, nor blame those who visit us.
In my opinion, tourism phobia is not desirable, nor is the unjustified nostalgia for a pre-tourist past that was much worse, with much greater poverty and cyclical migrations of tens of thousands of Canarians to other countries. Nor is immobility, the refusal to face changes that are essential for tourism to continue playing its fundamental role and be increasingly useful to the entire Canarian society.
Canarian Agreement on Tourism
From Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) we have proposed reaching a great Canarian Agreement for Sustainable Tourism, which defines the guidelines for the development of the sector in the coming decades. It was a central element of our electoral program in May 2023. We believe it is essential to make decisions for its sustainability with the most rigorous prior analysis and with the greatest possible social consensus. With the endorsement of the Canarian Executive, the parliamentary groups, the island and local corporations, the business community and unions, and environmental groups, as well as the Canarian universities.
Addressing issues such as rehabilitation of tourist cities, modernization and renovation of accommodation, quality parameters, training and employment, decarbonization and digitization of the sector. To which a consensual and widely supported earmarked eco-tax could contribute, the revenue of which would be invested in the rehabilitation of public infrastructures and the preservation of natural resources; but being aware that a tax, as happens in other places, does not limit the number of visitors. Also assessing an island-based moratorium in the sector that should necessarily take into account the situation and carrying capacity of each territory.
We also believe that it is necessary to legislate adequately on vacation rentals, which already account for more than a third of the accommodation offer. Differentiating between small and large holders, which would allow regulating the activity and preventing residential areas from becoming tourist areas. For this, a moratorium is necessary in this area if the new rule is to be effective. Likewise, it is necessary to intervene on the purchase of homes by foreigners not rooted in the Islands, which is serving to promote the purest and hardest speculation.
