British holidaymakers hit back at anti-tourist graffiti in Tenerife

by · Mail Online

British holidaymakers have hit back at anti-tourist graffiti in Tenerife by saying half of the island's restaurants would be closed if it wasn't for them.

Anti-tourist protest marches are due to take place on the Canary Islands including Tenerife and Lanzarote on April 20 to highlight problems such as the lack of affordable housing they claim are caused by Airbnb-style holiday rentals. 

Activists and environmentalists in the Canary Islands have warned that locals are being forced to live in their cars - and even caves - due to the impact of major tourism operators who are 'consuming the island'.

Canarians have resorted to desperate measures to limit the number of tourists frequenting local beauty spots, spraying anti-tourism graffiti and erecting fake 'closed due to overcrowding' signs to ward off holidaymakers.

Yet Brits in Tenerife have slammed the criticism, saying without them the local economy would crash.

British holidaymakers have hit back at anti-tourist graffiti in Tenerife by saying half of the island's restaurants would be closed if it wasn't for them. Pictured: Two women drinking shots in a Tenerife bar (File image)
Protest marches are due to take place on the Canary Islands including Tenerife and Lanzarote on April 20
Yet British teaching assistant Ellie Taylor, 20, said: 'We're good for their economy. Half the restaurants would not be open if it wasn't for us'
A wave of new anti-tourism graffiti has popped up near resorts in Tenerife over the past few days, with messages reading 'tourists go home' and 'too many guiris'
The holiday resort made headline news last month after a series of graffiti messages were scrawled on walls and buildings, reading 'tourists go home'

British teaching assistant Ellie Taylor, 20, told The Sun: 'We're good for their economy.

'Half the restaurants would not be open if it wasn't for us. 

'It sounds like they want classier people to come to Tenerife. I feel a bit offended.'

Another response left in English on a wall next to a 'Tourists go home' message said: 'F*** off, we pay your wages.' 

Fake 'closed due to overcrowding' signs have been put up in popular beauty sports on the island as environmentalists say Lanzarote is being ruined by its own success
Almost twenty associations have called for a protest on April 20th in Gran Canaria against the overcrowding of the island, on the same day as the one in Tenerife. It is being organised under the same motto 'The Canary Islands have a limit' (Placard reads: Canarias not for sale)

Tenerife locals say they 'are living in CAVES' and life on the island is 'COLLAPSING' due to tourism 'cancer that is consuming the island bit by bit' 

Messages in English left on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in the south of the Brit-popular holiday island included 'My misery your paradise' and 'Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.'

Last week the Tenerife Island Council vice-president Lope Afonso said the attacks on tourism were 'unfair' and said he regretted the fact tourism was being targeted with the planned April 20 protests.

One of the organisers of the protests has insisted they weren't against tourists but said change was needed.

Jaime Coello, president of the Telesforo Bravo Foundation, said the current system of mass tourism occupying 'every inch of the ground' was leading to many environmental problems and generating social problems including a lack of affordable housing.

He said: 'The quality of the tourist product is being destroyed by the investors and the regional government.'