Call for tourist tax and tourist moratorium

British newspapers have printed articles claiming the Canary Islands are “facing collapse” if they do not change their tourism model.

Articles in the Daily Mirror and Daily Express have covered a recent report by the ecology association Ben Magec- Ecologistas En Acción. The report claimed that “the pressure that the Canary Islands are enduring due to a mass tourism model without any type of limit or control, has long since become unsustainable”.

The report also highlighted the “uncontrolled” influx of European residents on the islands, and condemned the “continuous infractions” caused by tourists who do not respect protected areas, as well as the impact caused by the tourist industry itself.  

Ben Magec- Ecologistas En Acción have called for a moratorium on new tourist development, as well as the establishment of a tourist tax “to finance projects of sustainability.”