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The Canary Islands are pleading with Brits to keep visiting amid anti-tourism protests

Vaseline

Lanzarote and Tenerife have appealed for British tourists to visit amid fears of mass holiday cancellations following anti-tourism protests. Regional tourism head Jessica de Leon insists tourists are still welcome on the islands ahead of today’s planned protests.

“It is still safe to visit the Canary Islands and we are pleased to welcome you,” she told The Telegraph. She added that she understands the frustration, but that it was “unfair to blame tourism.” Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, echoed Leon, saying some activists “smell of tourist phobia.”

“People who come here and spend their money should not be criticized or insulted. We are playing with our main source of income,” Clavijo said. Gabriel Gonzalez, a councilor for the far-left Podemos party in the Tenerife resort of Adeje, responded: “We feel like we don’t live from tourism; it is tourism that lives from us.”

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Nestor Marrero, secretary of ATAN, an ecology group in Tenerife, added: “The number of tourists must be reduced. We should be aiming for higher quality visitors, not people in all-inclusive resorts who don’t leave the hotel or interact with locals and our culture in any way,” reports Birmingham Live.

Last year the islands welcomed 13.9 million people, despite a local population of only 2.2 million. According to data from Spain’s National Statistical Institute, in the Canary Islands, 33.8 percent of the population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion – the highest percentage for any region except Andalusia.

Addressing reporters this week, Clavijo said: “All the actions this government has taken are based on a review of this model” – adding: “The Canary Islands tourism model has been successful, but of course, as with everything, things that can be perfected.”

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