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Residents of the Canary Islands are at their wits end with tourists flocking in for holidays while they can’t afford to live in their own homes.

The group of Spanish islands, located off the coast of Africa, regularly boom with British travellers, with nearly five million jetting in last year.

But now local groups are mobilising with protests planned for April 20, with organisers claiming one of the islands “is collapsing socially and environmentally” because it cannot cope with the sheer numbers of tourists.

Per Sky News, a recent report from the environmental group Ecologists in Action warned of “unsustainable tourism” to the Canary Islands.

Despite the new tourism records being set year after year, generating millions of euros for the industry, almost 34% of the local population, nearly 800,000 people, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the report said.

Ivan Cerdena Molina, who is helping organise the protests, told local news outlet The Olive Press that they have nothing against individual tourists but the “industry is growing and growing and using up so many resources and the island cannot cope”.

“Next Saturday, 20 April, we will take to the streets to once again demand what is common sense; control a situation that suffocates us and expels us from our own territory,” the report added.

Locals have resorted to putting up fake “closed to overcrowding signs” in a bid to ward off tourists.

“It’s a crisis, we have to change things urgently, people are living in their cars and even in caves, and locals can’t eat, drink or live well,” Molina pleaded.

President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo is urging activists to “use common sense”, arguing that “[we cannot] attack our main source of employment and wealth because it would be irresponsible,” he told local media.

The good old battle between profit and people rears its nasty head once again.

Cape Town could be heading on a similar trajectory if things as they are continue unabated.

[source:skynews]