UK tourists warned Lanzarote and Tenerife has 'limited patience' for them

UK tourists who are planning a Canary Islands holiday have been warned Lanzarote and Tenerife locals are running out of "patience". This weekend saw huge protests across the Canary Islands as locals hit out at the tourism model in the holiday hotspots.

Antonio Bullon, a protester in Tenerife, said: "The authorities must immediately stop this corrupt and destructive model that depletes the resources and makes the economy more precarious." He went on, telling Sky News this weekend: "The Canary Islands have limits and people's patience too."

The islands' president said on Friday that he felt "proud" the region is a leading Spanish tourism spot, but acknowledged more controls are needed. "We can't keep looking away. Otherwise, hotels will continue to open without any control," Fernando Clavijo told a news conference.

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Holding placards reading "People live here" and "We don't want to see our island die", campaigners said changes must be made to the tourism industry. The protests and demonstrations took place across Saturday and Sunday last weekend.

"It's not a message against the tourist, but against a tourism model that doesn't benefit this land and needs to be changed," one of the protesters said during the march in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Another activist Celia Quintero, 15, claimed they are pressured in school to accomodate British tourists. Speaking to the Daily Express, she said that you had to learn English at school with lessons like Maths even being taught in the language because "you have to know English because we rely on tourism and to stay safe".

The backdrop to the demos is an ongoing hunger strike six men and women began on April 11 outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna. Official sources put the number of demonstrators in Tenerife at midday at around 10,000 people.

Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month, though. The flyers have been stuck to buildings across the sun-kissed holiday destination.