Thousands of defiant UK tourists take action after Tenerife and Lanzarote protests

Thousands of defiant Brits have booked Tenerife and Lanzarote holidays despite rising tensions. UK tourists in the Canary Islands have faced tensions in recent months amid protests from locals over their behaviour and an influx of holidaymakers.

But package holiday firm On The Beach has seen sales rise by a third compared with the two weeks before the protests. Bookings are already up 18 per cent on 2023 and nearly 14million tourists visited last year — up 13 per cent on 2022.

Local Samantha Hasala said to the Sun newspaper: “Lots of people are saying, ‘We don’t want tourists here anymore’ — but it is not really about British people. It’s just because most of our tourists are British. We love British people.”

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Leigh Buckingham bought a package holiday on April 26 and said: “I saw the protests but it hasn’t stopped me — it actually reminded me to book. We love it there. We go pretty much every year. Who can argue with lots of sun, sand and sangria?”

Zoe Harris, from On The Beach, said: “We’ve been analysing booking numbers closely since the protests and it seems it’s only encouraged more Brits to book. Thousands have made their holiday plans concrete in the last few weeks.

“We’re expecting more bookings to fly in.” The seven main Canary Islands are home to 2.2 million people - and welcomed almost 14 million international visitors in 2023, up 13% from the previous year.

The tourism industry accounts for 35% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Canary Islands. Andy Ward, director of Tenerife Estate Agents, tells Sky News the media coverage of a smattering of "tourists go home" graffiti has been "100x greater than the on-the-ground reality", where there is little visible animosity.

"The governments here have completely neglected this need, instead selling land for more hotels and selling land for luxury villas and high-end apartments, which locals are unable to afford," he said.