Vandalized lounge chairs highlight Canary Islands' tourism tensions
Over 230 lounge chairs were vandalized on popular beaches in Tenerife as part of a protest against mass tourism in the Canary Islands.
In the first week of December, unidentified perpetrators damaged lounge chairs on the beaches of Las Vistas and El Camisón in Arona. According to the local service Canarian Weekly, the lounge chairs were spray-painted and slashed, causing losses exceeding $7,200 CAD.
"The Canary Islands are not for sale"
The vandals also left graffiti on the walls of a nearby shopping centre with anti-tourist slogans such as "Canarias se defiende" (The Canary Islands defend themselves) and "Canarias no se vende" (The Canary Islands are not for sale).
The mayor of Arona, Fátima Lemes, condemned the acts of vandalism, calling them "an attack on the heritage of Arona" that harms both residents and tourists. She emphasized that such actions are punishable and called on the community to help identify the perpetrators.
- The residents of Arona are very aware of the need to protect our environment, but unfortunately, there will always be exceptions that threaten the common good, which is like an attack on all of us – she said.
Authorities are working on repairing the damage and restoring the beaches for public use. Braulio Melián Pérez, who manages the company El Enyesque SL and is responsible for beach services in the Los Cristianos area, pointed out the lack of night beach patrols for two years and appealed for their reinstatement. He added that almost 10 percent of the 1,100 available lounge chairs were destroyed, and their replacement could take up to a month.
- This is the largest attack we've dealt with in eight years – he emphasized. - Almost all users of these lounge chairs are tourists. It was a direct attack on them and, as a result, on the local economy.
The incident is part of a series of protests by Canary Islands residents against excessive tourism. In April this year, thousands of people took to the streets of Tenerife, demanding a reduction in the number of tourists to decrease pressure on the environment and the housing market.
At the end of October this year, similar protests took place in popular resorts on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and El Hierro, where residents called for a change in the tourism model on the islands.
