Citizens of Spain’s Canary Islands of Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Gran Canaria are worried that the islands could get poorer and face environmental damage due to the increasing number of tourists.
Furthermore, the increasing number of visitors has also led to a significant increase in home prices.
The figures from the General Council of Notaries reveal that from August 2022 to August 2023, house prices in the Spanish island chain increased by 12 per cent.
The surge in holiday rentals is also driving up property prices. According to a report from the Mirror, in December 2023, Santa Cruz de Tenerife had three times more short-term rental options compared to long-term ones.
More than half of a total of 540,000 beds in the Canary Islands are in holiday rentals rather than hotels, which is leading to a surge in housing prices, particularly in the area that already has the highest unemployment rate in Spain. By the end of last year, 15 per cent of residents in the Canaries were unemployed.
There are more beds for visitors than for residents in the six areas of the Canary Islands.
Out of nearly 200,000 holiday apartments in the Canary Islands, more than half are owned by persons with only one property. This indicates that locals are converting their homes into rentals as the number of tourists continues to increase.
According to a report from the Daily Star, urban planning experts have recently warned that islands are “collapsing” as a result of the increasing number of international tourists.
Every year, Spanish islands attract a large number of international visitors, especially during the peak summer season. The majority of visitors to these islands come from Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia.
However, experts have raised concerns that the islands are on the verge of collapse due to an overwhelming number of tourists and the extensive development resulting from it.
The Canary Islands territory was more than overexploited. We had exceeded the carrying capacity of the territory by seven times, resulting in a scenario of systemic collapse due to the urban development structure.
In spite of receiving public praise as a top tourist destination at Fitur, architects and ecologists are concerned about the model of land occupation by hotel facilities. According to them, the Canary Islands have reached their limit in terms of sustainable development.
