Lanzarote says it is fed up with having so many British tourists visiting the island - and wants FEWER UK holidaymakers!

I absolutely LOVE Lanzarote! The mixture of culture, glorious year-round sunshine and amazing local food is perfection. IMO those who call it ‘Lanzagrotty’ either haven’t actually been there, or they’ve been to an all-inclusive hotel and haven’t experienced the island. I think the rise of the cheap all-inclusives is probably what’s bothering the Lanzarote tourist board - and I don’t blame them. We always go either self catering or b&b. We eat out in the many fabulous local restaurants and take in the culture of the island. It’s very important to Lanzarote that it never becomes ‘over commercialised’ - no high rise allowed etc. The artist, Manrique, dedicated his life to ensuring Lanzarote retains its culture, and his legacy is part of the island today (the airport is named after him).

Fleurpepper

Can't speak for Gagajo, but Brits at home and Brits on cheap holidays, can be VERY different people. At home you can also pick where you live as you know the area.

One DD lived in one of the Spanish Island and she said hardly any of the Brits there spoke enough Spanish to get by, and just shouted louder and louder in English. Some of them had been there for donkeys years.

Yup. Although with my ability to murder other languages, if I'd stayed overseas I'd have been one of them probably.

Callistemon21

Oh dear, it gets worse.

Not just British lager lotus, hen parties, staff parties but ex-pats now!

And - I really dislike being call A BRIT
Thank you.

Best stay home, folks.
Foreigners don't want us.

Same attitude foreigners here face I suppose.

Oh dear, it gets worse.

Not just British lager lotus, hen parties, staff parties but ex-pats now!

And - I really dislike being call A BRIT
Thank you.

Best stay home, folks.
Foreigners don't want us.

Callistemon21

GagaJo

The dislike of Brits was one of a few reasons I left Mallorca. As well as disliking living in a tourist hotspot.

The dislike of Brits was one of a few reasons I left Mallorca
🤔
But I thought you lived in the UK, Gagajo?
That must make life very difficult if you dislike us all so much.

Perhaps I'm wrong, I sometimes am.

No, the dislike of the Mallorcan people towards Brits. The people I worked with were OK. They chose to work in a British school so couldn't really complain about other staff being British. But the islanders in general being anti-Brit was hard, considering I lived there. So it just became another reason to want to leave. The immigrant experience I suppose but I was lucky enough to have other options open to me.

Can't speak for Gagajo, but Brits at home and Brits on cheap holidays, can be VERY different people. At home you can also pick where you live as you know the area.

One DD lived in one of the Spanish Island and she said hardly any of the Brits there spoke enough Spanish to get by, and just shouted louder and louder in English. Some of them had been there for donkeys years.

Lanzarote says it is fed up with having so many British tourists visiting the island - and wants FEWER UK holidaymakers!

www.canarianweekly.com/posts/Lanzarote-We-need-less-British-tourists

I'm glad you changed less to fewer, Urmstongran! Pedantry, I know, but it is irritating.

The message I'm receiving from that is that Lanzarote considers itself to be downmarket, out-dated and the hotels need a lot of refurbishment.
I must admit that we haven't been for several years so it may have become a bit of a dump in the meantime. There were no high rise apart from one hotel which had had a fire.

I think it's sad because César Manrique worked hard to make sure the island didn't become another Tenerife.

We didn't think it was particularly upmarket when we went there - just more authentic than some other tourist places in Spain and very interesting if you hired a car and toured out-of- the way places (it didn't take long).

However, the downside the first time we went was touts in the street trying to sell timeshares, targeting our then very young DD. Unfortunately, although people paid out money upfront, those timeshares were never built or left unfinished.
A get rich quick culture prevailed there.

Do we blame the British for this or those from there who wanted to encourage tourism and money at the expense of César Manrique's dream?

Perhaps they'll achieve their aims but they obviously have a long way to go to achieve them.

GagaJo

The dislike of Brits was one of a few reasons I left Mallorca. As well as disliking living in a tourist hotspot.

The dislike of Brits was one of a few reasons I left Mallorca
🤔
But I thought you lived in the UK, Gagajo?
That must make life very difficult if you dislike us all so much.

Perhaps I'm wrong, I sometimes am.

Lack of a sense of humour,?

What, Fleurpepper* and me? 😁

Well, I certainly don't lack one and I'm sure FleurP can speak up for herself.

Casdon interesting that in the survey so many from the USA said they didn't know!
Quite puzzling to me.

What can I tell you? I was in Borovets, and the only clients at the Hotel were British. I can only tell you what I have witnessed. Even if you find it strange.

We also visited Sofia, and a Professor we had hosted in the past and was a wonderful person and friend. And were quite shocked at her attitude and comments towards Gipsies.

Fleurpepper

Well it is not really funny, so no, I am not.

But I would not have dared or even considered postint such a thread. USG did and asked for our 'thoughts'. Were we only supposed to post 'thoughts' that she would agree with?

No not all all Fleurpepper all discussion is welcome on this news item. It was in yesterday’s newspaper headlines - which is why I picked up on it.

15:41Fleurpepper

Thanks for your explanation.

Fleurpepper
In my experience of living in Bulgaria for some years I never heard a Bulgarian speak about the British as you claim.
The only people they really dislike are the Turks and the Russians. They don't like invaders.
But there again, the majority here haven't experienced what you claim to have witnessed, strange that, don't you think.

The dislike of Brits was one of a few reasons I left Mallorca. As well as disliking living in a tourist hotspot.

Urmstongran if I were to visit Lanzarote and if I and my money was not made welcome I wouldn’t return simples.

(My late parents loved Lanzarote and visited most years, they were always warmly welcomed back to their hotel and fussed over by the staff, especially when step-father celebrated his 70th birthday there)

Maudi

14:33Fleurpepper

Remember the UK tourists a couple of years back complaining bitterly in the gutter Press about an all inclusive resort limiting alcoholic drinks at 8 per evening !?!

Seems to me the main denominator in all this so called bad behaviour is you lol the places you frequent and eat and why are you reading the so called gutter Press, it always amazing me the posters who call the Daily Mail are the ones who read and know all the stories

I'd like to know why the doctor from Cairo was working as a pool attendant did you ask him?

I don't read the DM- but I looked for a quote to post here, and the first one was the DM.

As for the young Doctor from Cairo- he said he wanted to go and work abroad, and needed to learn English and could not afford to go on a course abroad. So he worked at a Hotel as body guard/pool attendant- to practice his English, and spend as much time as possible learning from books and tapes, etc, and earn his keep at the same time.

We had a similar case at the resort I was a Director at in the UK. From Poland. Also just qualified as a Doctor, and needing to learn English before he could apply for jobs in UK or USA. He worked as a waiter at the restaurant. I used to bring books with me when I went swimming there, and he arranged to have time off so I could tutor him after my swim (for free) and used to come home to discuss medical stuff with OH, and went to observe him at work a few times (with patient's approval).

Callistemon21

^Because it's ok to laugh at ourselves!^
But I don't think Fleurpepper is laughing.

And I'm not either.

Lack of a sense of humour,?

I used to joke with my Mallorcan friends about British lager louts.

What should I have done? Defended their reprehensible behaviour?

In 2021 U.K. residents took 19.1 million trips overseas (79% less than 2019)

The number of Britons arrested overseas in 2018 5,359, 2017 5,301 and 2017 5,568 (source Sky News latest figures I could find with a quick Google)

Yes, Callistemon21,
Wales is lovely at this time of year

But some areas (especially coastal ones) are also struggling with "too much of a good thing".
Some are making holiday homes pay extra council tax for example.

Well it is not really funny, so no, I am not.

But I would not have dared or even considered postint such a thread. USG did and asked for our 'thoughts'. Were we only supposed to post 'thoughts' that she would agree with?

14:33Fleurpepper

Remember the UK tourists a couple of years back complaining bitterly in the gutter Press about an all inclusive resort limiting alcoholic drinks at 8 per evening !?!

Seems to me the main denominator in all this so called bad behaviour is you lol the places you frequent and eat and why are you reading the so called gutter Press, it always amazing me the posters who call the Daily Mail are the ones who read and know all the stories

I'd like to know why the doctor from Cairo was working as a pool attendant did you ask him?

Because it's ok to laugh at ourselves!
But I don't think Fleurpepper is laughing.

And I'm not either.

Urmstongran

Oh dear.
I think they may regret this statement. Brits abroad spend a lot of money.
What are your thoughts on this?

I am still puzzled. I mean I did not post this thread. But you did Urmstongran- what did you expect? You did ask for our thoughts on this. So we answered.

I remember you saying the same thing quite a few times in the past, about areas of Spain, btw.

Should the government be doing something about this in schools? Lessons on how to deport oneself when overseas?

I suspect that people who are rude and disrespectful overseas are pretty much the same at home.

Sad to say I actually know people who yell at 'foreigners' abroad - one is my brother. He's one of the 'sun and sand' brigade who has no interest in the country or the people. He once told my DM that foreigners 'get awkward and pretend not to understand English' and they're rude. He has quite a strong Welsh accent and speaks very quickly and it's possible people found him hard to understand and he got embarrassed. Happily for everyone abroad his difficulties with being understood have kept him in the UK ever since.