Canary Islanders tell Brits to go home.

So, much as I understand the, islanders' desperation and concern, I believe it is necessary to look for other streams of income before alienating tourists.

Many years ago we were told by a local farmer on Tenerife that the new EU regulations had badly damaged his business. His bananas were no longer deemed straight enough to be acceptable for export.
The only way round it was they could be sold as "children's" bananas in supermarkets, he quoted Sainsbury's, as Canarian bananas are small and sweet.

RunaroundSue

Biting the hand that feeds them comes to mind.

Rather a short sighted viewpoint.

The conundrum is tourism provides jobs, without jobs young people move away, if LAs want to keep more local young people increase tourism taxes and use the money to provide affordable housing.
.
It’s not just tourist areas, in the UK even if they have jobs young families cannot afford rent or mortgages, there are not enough well paid jobs, they are mostly “service” jobs, often low skilled and to be honest with new technology I do not see well paid jobs being any easier to find in the future.

One thing for sure if you train for a skill you will find it easier to afford the rent.

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BlueBelle

Oh that’s awful Seadragon and although I ve been to the Canaries on a few occasions and enjoyed it I agree with you Allsorts the locals should come first in housing
These super liners are a blooming menace in my opinion (I can’t think of anything worse for a holiday )

Me neither. They are utterly horrific!

Mollygo I can also understand why people in those areas of the UK are upset about it. It must be very annoying seeing houses left empty for significant periods of time, while locals cannot afford to buy a home. I think there should be measures brought in to make it much less attractive for people to buy second homes.

Eloethan

I can quite understand why people from the Canary Islands have had enough of tourists.

If the homes where you lived were, in the main, out of the reach of local people, wouldn't you think it unfair?

Same applies in many places in the UK e.g the Lake District, Cornwall, Wales and many seaside locations. Locals can’t afford houses and second homes are often left empty for long periods or used as weekend get-aways by people who bring what they need with them or, shop in a supermarket on the way in rather than using the local shops.

I can quite understand why people from the Canary Islands have had enough of tourists.

If the homes where you lived were, in the main, out of the reach of local people, wouldn't you think it unfair?

I suppose it could be pointed out that successive governments have allowed and encouraged the over-expansion of tourism. It may have seen an obvious and easy way to bring money into the country, but the downside is that few other avenues of revenue have been pursued. So, much as I understand the, islanders' desperation and concern, I believe it is necessary to look for other streams of income before alienating tourists.

I read that in one of the Canary Islands - I believe it is Tenerife - two huge hotel complexes have been approved, on a large area of natural habitat. It has, naturally I think, caused anger.

My most recent visit to a beach in the UK, I am not a beach bunny, was 2 years ago, to Great Yarmouth and the seaaside and town tourist shops seemed to be booming. Yes there were people on the beach with picnics, but plenty of people eating ice cream, candy floss, fish and chips, using boats on the boating pool, playing crazy golf. There were chalet parks and camping sites all quite busy.

When our DC were small, we could not afford to go to the sea for a day and buy everything needed when we got there. We would take picnics, and buy ice creams, that way we could have 3 days out, if we went empty handed and bought everything, one day was all we could afford.

PinkCosmos Why shouldn't tourists come for the day and sit on your beach? For many people a day at the seaside might be the only holiday they can afford.

In the 50s, as a child I lived between Weymouth and Portland. We had a little local beach but when my Dad was on holiday we went further afield. Weymouth beach was always crowded in the school summer holidays so we used to take a picnic and the whole family would go to a stony beach further along the coast. We travelled, 4 children plus dog and hamper in a sidecar and my parents on the motorbike.

Sometimes we went by train via Corfe Castle to Swanage we always went over the headland to the rocky side and spent hours rock pooling. We returned to Weymouth by boat.

Obviously that was in the days before foreign travel was available to the majority. It was possible to find less accessible beaches but that always involved a trek to get to them.

This is a Europe wide, if not international problem. Only this week our local paper in Normandy had a list of all the seaside towns in the area that are now hiking house tax up byup to 60% for second house owners. One community with 900 house said 600 were second homes.

To be fair, before the fashion for seaside holidays started late in the 19th century Normans had no interest in the sea. All the villages were well inland and their seaside communities were built solely as tourist resorts. All the way up the penninsula, each parish has its plage(beach)community and its bourg (village) community, but now many of the village commu ities are seeing many of the houses become second homes.

Catterygirl

Just a suggestion. If you want to be the only tourist in town, try Sakarya in Turkey. I will be there next week.

We promise not to go next week so you can still be the only tourist there 😁

Have a lovely relaxing time.

PinkCosmos

I live in a tourist destination with a large lovely beach.

One of the main gripes is that tourists come in for the day, bring a picnic and sit on the beach. They don't go into the town and spend money in a cafe. They don't stay overnight. When they leave, they leave all of their rubbish behind. Therefore, the local council have to put in bigger bins and need staff to empty them two or three times a day in the season.

Visitors have also left disposable barbeques buried in the sand and put them in the bin which has then set on fire.

I agree about the ABnB's. People with this type of accommodation need to be registered in some way so that they met the same standards that hotels and guest house have to meet.

Most going on a beach holiday would be staying close to the resort, they would be spending money locally even if they were self catering, or camping. Some do leave their rubbish and that should not happen, as for regulating airbnbs we can start by regulating hotels, currently food premises are regulated but not accommodation, standards vary a lot.

Just a suggestion. If you want to be the only tourist in town, try Sakarya in Turkey. I will be there next week.

Lillyflower. Your comparison with the 18th & 19th centuries doesn't wash. I think you'll find there was a lot of unimaginable poverty and misery in Dickens and Hardy's novels. Such suffering was the very foundation of your idealised capitalist system, along with slavery and the systematic asset stripping of other countries.

A second home is not a necessity and is a highly questionable aspiration but this is only part of a much wider issue. The world is changing faster than ever before and governments worldwide are going to have to choose new paths. The old models are broken and no longer fit for purpose, or at least they won't be for much longer.

Finally I've heard people talking about the good old days as in the 1950's, but rarely have I heard someone extolling the virtues of the 18th century!

However, if you originate from the sixtieth floor of a high rise, there you are stuck forever.

Lillyflower I have no issue with those originating from a high rise etc moving to a more idyllic location and living there, if they can manage to buy a property there. What I do take issue with is people who have enough money to buy a second home in the idyllic location, not living in it for most of the year and contributing to the rise in property prices in these locations - pricing others (less fortunate) out of the market.

If you read your eighteenth and nineteenth century novels, access to homes was a primary concern for everyone.

Lillyflower surely society has progressed since the 19th Century. Slavery, misogyny, racism, corporal & capitol punishment and childhood deaths were also concerns - should we go back to accepting them too?

Casdon

Just a point, not sure if you’re aware that the Daily Mail newspaper and Mail Online don’t produce the same content, Mail Online is effectively a franchise?

No, I didn't know that.

Perhaps more clickbait in the online version,then.

Of course, it depends what someone is looking for.
If someone is looking to be perpetually offended, seek and ye shall find!

Casdon

Just a point, not sure if you’re aware that the Daily Mail newspaper and Mail Online don’t produce the same content, Mail Online is effectively a franchise?

I never give it a minute’s thought. 😂

Just a point, not sure if you’re aware that the Daily Mail newspaper and Mail Online don’t produce the same content, Mail Online is effectively a franchise?

merlotgran

I laugh when people declare they will never have the DM in their homes. What on earth are they afraid of?

They often have a comprehensive knowledge of the day’s reports so must be reading it on their phones.

It is free after all! 😂😂

They often have a comprehensive knowledge of the day’s reports so must be reading it on their phones

Perhaps they sit in the garden shed to read it on their phones.
At least they're not in the house!

And yes, they know far more about what's in it than those who say they just buy it once a week for the TV programmes.

Lilyflower

How do you know what's in a newspaper if you 'don't read it ever'? Asking for a friend.

😂😂😂

I laugh when people declare they will never have the DM in their homes. What on earth are they afraid of?

They often have a comprehensive knowledge of the day’s reports so must be reading it on their phones.

It is free after all! 😂😂