Lanzarote holiday anti-tourism protests: I've lived on Canary Islands 20 years but I'm still a visitor

National World - LocalTV

Dave Gainsford, of travelon.World discusses recent anti-tourism protests in the Canary Islands.

Transcript

00:00 I've lived here for 20 plus years, I have two kids, they were born here, but I still

00:08 consider myself as a visitor on the island, regardless of the fact that this is my home,

00:13 I pay my taxes here, I'm still very much a visitor.

00:16 So it's important from my point of view that I and everybody else respects the lay of the

00:27 land here in the Canaries, and I was a rep for the tour operators, then a manager for

00:33 the tour operators, and I ended up staying here.

00:35 And since then I've always worked in tourism, whether it be with the local tour businesses

00:41 here like the boats and the land tours and things like that.

00:45 And recently I've sort of become the face of Travel On World, which just does all the

00:50 tours, experiences and stuff, more of a sort of booking agent, if you like, so a booking

00:55 agent for tours everywhere, but predominantly the Canary Islands.

01:00 So when COVID hit, obviously there was no tourism, so we had two years off, and there

01:06 was nothing to do.

01:07 So that's when I sort of started doing videos around the island.

01:10 And it started off actually filming hotels that were abandoned, where there was nobody

01:15 in, and just going out on the outside and saying, "This is this hotel, I hope it'll

01:21 open soon."

01:22 And it just built from that.

01:23 So when tourism did kick off again, it sort of escalated, and I mean, it's going well.

01:30 I've got you here today because of these reports that we've seen in the media that quote, "The

01:36 Canary Islands are on the brink of collapse."

01:39 I've just been there.

01:40 It's not a view that I particularly felt.

01:42 Is it a view that you would agree with?

01:44 No.

01:45 I did a video.

01:48 There was two news reports that came out from the UK press, and I must stress that

01:52 I asked people on the mainland of Spain as well, and German people, and Dutch people,

01:57 and people from Sweden, if they're getting the same reports, and nobody had heard anything.

02:03 But the UK press were...

02:07 First of all, they did a report saying that tourists are not welcome.

02:11 That was the first report.

02:12 That's how it all started.

02:13 It was more in Tenerife.

02:14 There was a few signs that went up in Tenerife.

02:17 After living in the Canaries for around 20 years, Dave still describes himself as a visitor.

02:23 He now runs a trips and tour company, and additionally, his social media accounts, travelon.world,

02:31 provide a friendly guide to the island and have been viewed by millions of people.

02:36 Rather than just sort of sit back, because it did sort of anger me a little bit, I thought

02:39 I'd go out and ask local people and ask sort of local business owners.

02:45 I tried to keep it very broad and try and find people that tourism didn't affect in

02:52 any way.

02:53 But I really did struggle to find any sort of person that sort of lives and works on

02:59 the island that in some way doesn't benefit from tourism.

03:04 So I spoke to a lifeguard.

03:05 I spoke to a guy that did sandcastles on the beach, you know, for tips, a few business

03:10 owners, and everybody was really sort of welcoming and saying, "No, no, we want tourists here.

03:17 Tourists is our bread and butter.

03:18 That's how we make money.

03:19 It pays for our cars.

03:20 It pays for our houses.

03:21 You know, tourists are welcome."

03:23 I asked also tourists that were here in the islands, because the news report said that

03:31 there was going to be mass protests.

03:33 Now there is going to be a protest on the 20th of April, but it's a protest about the

03:39 fact that there is a problem, not with the infrastructure of the island, but with the

03:45 housing.

03:47 What you've got to remember is here in Lanzarote, and since Airbnb started, and Booking.com

03:52 and things like that, a lot of people are finding it very, very easy to rent their houses

03:57 out as holiday homes, whereas before you would have your typical holiday home that would

04:02 be in a complex.

04:03 And maybe it would be owned by a local, maybe it would be owned by somebody in the UK that

04:07 sort of comes over for a few weeks and then rents it out for the rest.

04:12 But what's actually happening now on the islands, because of booking platforms and things like

04:17 that, is the houses that you wouldn't consider sort of holiday homes and tourist homes, they're

04:23 now what's called VV, which is a holiday home, and they have to have the VV license.

04:31 So these licenses have been granted to people in the capital city, for example, that have

04:36 got a three bedroom apartment that would suit a family, but they're renting it out for tourists.

04:44 So what's happening is the local people are finding it very difficult to find places to

04:48 live.

04:49 They're also finding that the rents have gone super high, because obviously landlords can

04:53 make a lot more money from renting to tourists, with a lot less problems as well.

04:58 If you think you rent your house out for three weeks of the year, and tourists come, they

05:04 go, the chances of them damaging the property are slim.

05:10 But if you had somebody in your sort of three bedroom apartment permanently, and they lose

05:16 their job and they can't pay the rent, the laws are in place to protect the tenant.

05:23 So it's a lot easier for landlords to rent to tourists, and they possibly do make more

05:27 money and have less problems.

05:29 So I sort of can understand from sort of both sides why that is.

05:33 But I think, and as I said, I don't represent the Canarian people in any way whatsoever,

05:38 because I don't see this side.

05:42 But I think when they're building big hotels, and they've just built one of the biggest

05:45 hotels in the Canary Islands in Playa Blanca, which is actually short staffed because they

05:50 can't find the staff at the moment.

05:53 And then there's not affordable housing for people, and they're not building affordable

05:58 housing.

05:59 And when you look at some of the houses, the housing complex that are going up, they're

06:02 all tourist sort of houses.

06:04 So there's nothing being built for the locals.

06:07 More hotels are being built, and they're just in a constant sort of struggle to find places

06:12 to live.

06:14 And there's a big shortage of staff as well.

06:16 And then the other report which you mentioned was the Lanzarote.

06:20 They sort of honed in on Lanzarote, which is why I sort of took to the streets again.

06:25 And they said Lanzarote is on the brink of collapse.

06:28 I mean, the island's busy.

06:31 Don't get me wrong.

06:32 It's a lot busier.

06:33 It has been a lot busier since COVID.

06:35 We had two years off.

06:36 We're still catching up, you know.

06:38 But it's certainly not on the brink of collapse.

06:40 And I went out and showed lots of different areas and said, "Look, does this look like

06:45 we're on the brink of collapse?"

06:46 So I just found it very dangerous for that sort of news report to be out.

06:51 And I think that has a more dangerous outcome for local people here by telling tourists,

07:00 "Beware, do not go," than mass tourism itself.

07:05 It's clearly a more nuanced picture than what's been depicted in the media from what you say.

07:10 And it sounds from what you're saying, the big issue is perhaps around housing and local

07:15 people being able to get somewhere to live.

07:17 Do you feel these protests accurately represent the sentiment of the local community?

07:23 Or is it just a small group of people who are protesting?

07:26 The way that it's been reported in the UK is there's going to be a mass protest.

07:30 People are going to be walking down the streets with banners.

07:33 It's at the town hall in Arasifi.

07:36 There are tourists in Arasifi, but it's not going to hit really the main resorts where

07:41 people are on holiday.

07:42 But a lot of people were messaging me saying, "We're there on the 20th of April.

07:47 Are we safe?"

07:48 So it was very scary for people.

07:50 And I'll be live on TikTok from there reporting and just asking.

07:54 I will be asking the local people that are there, "What is it you're protesting against?

07:58 Is it the fact that you do not want tourism here anymore?

08:02 Or is it the fact of what we've just discussed with the housing crisis and things?"

08:06 Because there is a housing crisis, but I believe that the government at the moment are setting

08:12 rules in place.

08:14 I believe that if you buy a new house now, you can't rent it out as a holiday home for

08:18 at least 10 years.

08:19 And I may be wrong on this.

08:21 This is just information that I've heard.

08:23 And there are some new sort of smaller complexes being built, which are only available to locals

08:30 to buy and are only available to those that do not have a house.

08:35 So they're not available to anybody that's already got a house.

08:38 So they are trying.

08:39 Now, the infrastructure has been put in place for buses to bring people because, as I said,

08:43 the island is short-staffed at the moment as well because of the housing crisis.

08:48 And what you've got to remember as well with Brexit is a lot of the Brits that used to

08:53 come over and work for the summer or a few months or come over and take a year out, they

08:59 can't come over and work here anymore.

09:01 And even those that are in the EU, they're more than willing to come over and work for

09:06 a year, a year out in the sun and work in a bar and stuff like that.

09:10 But they can't find anywhere to live.

09:12 So the wages are not justifying the rents.

09:14 I mean, the average wage here is between 1,000 to 1,200 a month, and your average rent is

09:21 sort of between 8 and 1,200 a month.

09:25 So it's quite a big problem.

09:27 About a year ago, I was out in Lanzarote speaking to people on holiday about the leaders' comments

09:33 in Lanzarote that Maria Dolores Caruso said that she wanted higher quality tourism.

09:38 But I understand that Brits make over half of the tourist numbers on the island.

09:44 And also what was strange shortly after that, Lanzarote, the government, struck a deal with

09:49 Brianair to actually bring more tourists to the popular destination.

09:53 So it does appear that they do want Brits to still go there in big numbers.

09:57 Yeah, I think that was also taken out of context.

10:01 I think what Maria was trying to say was that we want a better class of tourists, which

10:08 when you look at how the island is developing, it has gone very much a lot of the shops and

10:18 the restaurants are a lot more glamorous now.

10:21 There's a lot more, especially in Puerto del Carmen, for example, you've got a beautiful

10:25 place called Long Beach, which is like a sort of funky beach bar.

10:29 And that 10 years ago wasn't like that in Lanzarote.

10:32 It was very much sort of, you know, not your big glamorous places, whereas Tenerife has

10:37 got some beautiful sort of glamorous restaurants.

10:40 Lanzarote has always been more of a traditional island, but it is developing to give, to attract

10:47 people that maybe have a little bit more money to spend.

10:52 And they definitely certainly want British people here, but I don't think they want your

10:57 typical sort of Brits abroad.

11:00 You sort of one euro beers, you two, you two fifty breakfast.

11:03 They're trying to keep the island very, very sort of very clean.

11:08 It's a very traditional island.

11:09 Like I said, they've even named the airport after Cesar Manrique, who was the artist that

11:13 designed the island.

11:15 So I think what Maria said, and she did, I believe she did write a letter saying that

11:22 she didn't say that it was taken out of context, was that Lanzarote needs to appeal to a different

11:28 type of tourist other than you sort of what they always say to the Brits abroad, don't

11:34 they?

11:35 Yeah, you know, it's always that it's that quote, isn't it?

11:37 Brits abroad.

11:38 And unfortunately, I mean, not all Brits, obviously, but it is the sort of British way

11:44 to come on holiday, drink and, you know, go out.

11:48 I think they I think the British people enjoy that more.

11:51 Well, some fascinating insight there.

11:54 Thank you so much for your time.

11:55 No, no.

11:56 Thank you so much.

11:57 I appreciate it.

11:57 Thank you.

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