BRITISH people have been warned to stay away from one of their favorite holiday spots as the island needs “higher quality” tourists.
The caution comes after tens of thousands of locals gathered to protest tourism at home, declaring they “only have a limit.”
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Politician Carlos Tarife, deputy mayor of Santa Cruz, Tenerife’s capital, said the island wants to move away from “all-inclusive” tourism and bracelet-wearing tourists.
He urged travelers who want to stay at his hotel during their holidays to go somewhere else, explaining to Radio Marca Tenerife: “Where before there were hotels with 250 beds, today we are in hotels with fewer beds and of higher quality.
“I think that is the tourism we need in our country, not the bracelet and ‘all-inclusive’ tourism of ‘I stay inside the hotel and do everything inside the hotel.’
“That’s why there are other destinations,” local media the day reports.
The politician added that Santa Cruz would like to be known as a place with five-star luxury hotels where tourists “not only come to enjoy the facilities, but also come to eat our local product.”
His comments came after Britons were warned they could be charged a daily “tourist tax” to visit the Canary Islands.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, raised the possibility when tens of thousands of angry locals (up to 80,000, according to protest organizers) took to the streets of Tenerife to protest against the tourism industry and urge Britons to “go back home.”
Protesters filled a square in Santa Cruz, honking horns, waving Canary Islands flags and brandishing banners that read: “You enjoy, we suffer.”
By then, anti-tourist graffiti had already begun to appear on walls and benches in the south of Tenerife and its surroundings.
Bitter messages – including “your paradise, our misery” – have been plastered around the tourist hotspot for months.
Tenerife residents said they were “fed up” with “low quality” British tourists who only visit the country to enjoy cheap beer, burgers and sunbathe.
Some British tourists called their hotels on the island to confirm they would be safe during their holiday.
Tarife, head of public services and environment for the Santa Cruz City Council and deputy mayor, emphasized Tuesday that he was against a tourism moratorium, but also that the islands should try to attract a different demographic of tourists.