Anti-tourist graffiti plastered across Tenerife beauty hotspot after 'low-quality' Brits are told to 'go home' | 930T33C | 2024-04-26 19:08:01
A TENERIFE beauty spot has been marked with anti-tourist graffiti as fuming locals keep telling "low-quality" Brits to go home.
"Canaries have a limit" was plastered in Spanish on the road leading to the must-see Teide volcano in the latest effort to deter foreign holidaymakers.
Sun-seeking Brits have called hotels on the island out of fear they may not be safe on their upcoming holidays.
Similar tourist-phobic graffiti have since been seen across other Spanish hotspots including Majorca, Barcelona and Lanzarote.
The slogan "Canaries have a limit" was also heard and spotted across banners as protesters took to the streets on Saturday.
Another message painted on the road said: "Moratoria turistica" – "Tourist moratorium" in English.
The island council's vice-president Lope Afonso slammed the "vandalism" in an angry message on X, saying: "The Canary Islands might have a limit, but this exceeds it.
"Grievances and demands cannot be transformed into vandalism or attacks on public property and, especially, on our landscape and our natural spaces.
"Teide National Park is a World Heritage Site and deserves care and respect.
"Not everything goes."
The message came ahead of a botched clean up to remove the graffiti, which was still visible and readable on Thursday.
Afonso was immediately met with a wave of criticism as locals accused him of failing to protect Tenerife and its natural wonders from the damage caused by tourists.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> In an apparent direct attack on UK holidaymakers, someone replied to Afonso's message, saying: "Is this tweet a joke? Let everyone publish things about the attacks on natural spaces your Bri-ish friends have done."
Tenerife-based environmentalist Adrian Flores argued that the National Park, where Mount Teide is located, is a World Heritage Site but hasn't been treated as such.
He inferred that the park is suffering from the "massification" of tourists, with visitors parking "wherever they want" and people straying off the paths.
One user, flagging up a recent newspaper article about a tourist breaching the rules by camping and cooking in the Teide National Park, said: "This is vandalism and not a s##tty little bit of graffiti on the road, idiot!"
Another wrote: "You have written absolutely nothing about the demands of those of us who have demonstrated in the streets for the defence and sustainability of the Canary Islands, nothing!
"But some fool goes and paints that on the road and you jump like a jack-in-the-box."
"You have no shame."
Anti-tourist graffiti in Guell Park in Barcelona[/caption]
Speaking after the failed clean-up Afonso wrote on X: "Dialogue and debate, yes.
"Vandalism to try to impose, no.
"Let's continue being an example of freedom, co-existence and civility."
Tourist tax
Earlier this week Tenerife Council president Rosa Davila proposed charging tourists to visit protected natural spaces like Mount Teide.
She is expected to seek backing for a study to approve the charge at a full council meeting tomorrow.
President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, also warned that a daily cost for visitors could be on the table.
Tourists visiting the equally popular Balearic islands – including Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza – already pay between one and four euro per day if over 16.
Protesters in Tenerife have been calling for a tourist tax to halt the rampant influx of holidaymakers[/caption]
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'Go home'
As thousands prepare to head to the Atlantic archipelago this summer, unofficial signs reading "closed to tourists" have been plastered around beaches to keep visitors out.
Residents of the sun-soaked destination have said they are "fed-up" of "low quality" Brit tourists who only come for the cheap beer, burgers and sunbathing.
Majorca followed the Canary Islands in the wave of furious locals calling for 'low-quality' tourists to stop flocking down to the Spanish paradises.
The tourist-phobic graffiti appeared in a Majorcan neighbourhood which has seen a massive influx of foreign buyers over the years.
The words "Go Home Tourist" were scrawled in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in Nou Llevant, where most homes were snapped up by Germans.
Meanwhile, a leading Tenerife politician has urged British and Irish tourists looking for cheap all-inclusive sunshine breaks to go elsewhere for their vacations.
Carlos Tarife, deputy mayor for the island capital Santa Cruz, said holidaymakers interested in staying in their hotels with their mandatory wristbands on should book places like the Dominican Republic instead.
Bitter graffiti reading "My misery your paradise" and "Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros" have been left on walls and benches across the Spanish paradises since the start of the month.
In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a 'Tourists go home' message said: "F##k off, we pay your wages."
Canarias Se Agota, a lead organiser in Saturday's Canary Islands protests, has insisted it has nothing to do with the graffiti that has appeared in parts of Tenerife over recent weeks.
The group also accused regional politicians of blaming them of tourism-phobia as part of a "dirty tricks" campaign.
They have made demands which include halting two tourist projects, including the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife's last virgin beaches, a tourist moratorium and more affordable housing.
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Thousands of holidaymakers flock to the Canary Islands every summer[/caption]
Brit tourists were labelled low-quality by locals as they overcrowd beaches[/caption]
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