Dave Gainsford, of travelon.World discusses recent anti-tourism protests in the Canary Islands.
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00:00 I've lived here for 20 plus years, I have two kids, they were born here, but I still
00:08 consider myself as a visitor on the island, regardless of the fact that this is my home,
00:13 I pay my taxes here, I'm still very much a visitor.
00:16 So it's important from my point of view that I and everybody else respects the lay of the
00:27 land here in the Canaries, and I was a rep for the tour operators, then a manager for
00:33 the tour operators, and I ended up staying here.
00:35 And since then I've always worked in tourism, whether it be with the local tour businesses
00:41 here like the boats and the land tours and things like that.
00:45 And recently I've sort of become the face of Travel On World, which just does all the
00:50 tours, experiences and stuff, more of a sort of booking agent, if you like, so a booking
00:55 agent for tours everywhere, but predominantly the Canary Islands.
01:00 So when COVID hit, obviously there was no tourism, so we had two years off, and there
01:06 was nothing to do.
01:07 So that's when I sort of started doing videos around the island.
01:10 And it started off actually filming hotels that were abandoned, where there was nobody
01:15 in, and just going out on the outside and saying, "This is this hotel, I hope it'll
01:21 open soon."
01:22 And it just built from that.
01:23 So when tourism did kick off again, it sort of escalated, and I mean, it's going well.
01:30 I've got you here today because of these reports that we've seen in the media that quote, "The
01:36 Canary Islands are on the brink of collapse."
01:39 I've just been there.
01:40 It's not a view that I particularly felt.
01:42 Is it a view that you would agree with?
01:44 No.
01:45 I did a video.
01:48 There was two news reports that came out from the UK press, and I must stress that
01:52 I asked people on the mainland of Spain as well, and German people, and Dutch people,
01:57 and people from Sweden, if they're getting the same reports, and nobody had heard anything.
02:03 But the UK press were...
02:07 First of all, they did a report saying that tourists are not welcome.
02:11 That was the first report.
02:12 That's how it all started.
02:13 It was more in Tenerife.
02:14 There was a few signs that went up in Tenerife.
02:17 After living in the Canaries for around 20 years, Dave still describes himself as a visitor.
02:23 He now runs a trips and tour company, and additionally, his social media accounts, travelon.world,
02:31 provide a friendly guide to the island and have been viewed by millions of people.
02:36 Rather than just sort of sit back, because it did sort of anger me a little bit, I thought
02:39 I'd go out and ask local people and ask sort of local business owners.
02:45 I tried to keep it very broad and try and find people that tourism didn't affect in
02:52 any way.
02:53 But I really did struggle to find any sort of person that sort of lives and works on
02:59 the island that in some way doesn't benefit from tourism.
03:04 So I spoke to a lifeguard.
03:05 I spoke to a guy that did sandcastles on the beach, you know, for tips, a few business
03:10 owners, and everybody was really sort of welcoming and saying, "No, no, we want tourists here.
03:17 Tourists is our bread and butter.
03:18 That's how we make money.
03:19 It pays for our cars.
03:20 It pays for our houses.
03:21 You know, tourists are welcome."
03:23 I asked also tourists that were here in the islands, because the news report said that
03:31 there was going to be mass protests.
03:33 Now there is going to be a protest on the 20th of April, but it's a protest about the
03:39 fact that there is a problem, not with the infrastructure of the island, but with the
03:45 housing.
03:47 What you've got to remember is here in Lanzarote, and since Airbnb started, and Booking.com
03:52 and things like that, a lot of people are finding it very, very easy to rent their houses
03:57 out as holiday homes, whereas before you would have your typical holiday home that would
04:02 be in a complex.
04:03 And maybe it would be owned by a local, maybe it would be owned by somebody in the UK that
04:07 sort of comes over for a few weeks and then rents it out for the rest.
04:12 But what's actually happening now on the islands, because of booking platforms and things like
04:17 that, is the houses that you wouldn't consider sort of holiday homes and tourist homes, they're
04:23 now what's called VV, which is a holiday home, and they have to have the VV license.
04:31 So these licenses have been granted to people in the capital city, for example, that have
04:36 got a three bedroom apartment that would suit a family, but they're renting it out for tourists.
04:44 So what's happening is the local people are finding it very difficult to find places to
04:48 live.
04:49 They're also finding that the rents have gone super high, because obviously landlords can
04:53 make a lot more money from renting to tourists, with a lot less problems as well.
04:58 If you think you rent your house out for three weeks of the year, and tourists come, they
05:04 go, the chances of them damaging the property are slim.
05:10 But if you had somebody in your sort of three bedroom apartment permanently, and they lose
05:16 their job and they can't pay the rent, the laws are in place to protect the tenant.
05:23 So it's a lot easier for landlords to rent to tourists, and they possibly do make more
05:27 money and have less problems.
05:29 So I sort of can understand from sort of both sides why that is.
05:33 But I think, and as I said, I don't represent the Canarian people in any way whatsoever,
05:38 because I don't see this side.
05:42 But I think when they're building big hotels, and they've just built one of the biggest
05:45 hotels in the Canary Islands in Playa Blanca, which is actually short staffed because they
05:50 can't find the staff at the moment.
05:53 And then there's not affordable housing for people, and they're not building affordable
05:58 housing.
05:59 And when you look at some of the houses, the housing complex that are going up, they're
06:02 all tourist sort of houses.
06:04 So there's nothing being built for the locals.
06:07 More hotels are being built, and they're just in a constant sort of struggle to find places
06:12 to live.
06:14 And there's a big shortage of staff as well.
06:16 And then the other report which you mentioned was the Lanzarote.
06:20 They sort of honed in on Lanzarote, which is why I sort of took to the streets again.
06:25 And they said Lanzarote is on the brink of collapse.
06:28 I mean, the island's busy.
06:31 Don't get me wrong.
06:32 It's a lot busier.
06:33 It has been a lot busier since COVID.
06:35 We had two years off.
06:36 We're still catching up, you know.
06:38 But it's certainly not on the brink of collapse.
06:40 And I went out and showed lots of different areas and said, "Look, does this look like
06:45 we're on the brink of collapse?"
06:46 So I just found it very dangerous for that sort of news report to be out.
06:51 And I think that has a more dangerous outcome for local people here by telling tourists,
07:00 "Beware, do not go," than mass tourism itself.
07:05 It's clearly a more nuanced picture than what's been depicted in the media from what you say.
07:10 And it sounds from what you're saying, the big issue is perhaps around housing and local
07:15 people being able to get somewhere to live.
07:17 Do you feel these protests accurately represent the sentiment of the local community?
07:23 Or is it just a small group of people who are protesting?
07:26 The way that it's been reported in the UK is there's going to be a mass protest.
07:30 People are going to be walking down the streets with banners.
07:33 It's at the town hall in Arasifi.
07:36 There are tourists in Arasifi, but it's not going to hit really the main resorts where
07:41 people are on holiday.
07:42 But a lot of people were messaging me saying, "We're there on the 20th of April.
07:47 Are we safe?"
07:48 So it was very scary for people.
07:50 And I'll be live on TikTok from there reporting and just asking.
07:54 I will be asking the local people that are there, "What is it you're protesting against?
07:58 Is it the fact that you do not want tourism here anymore?
08:02 Or is it the fact of what we've just discussed with the housing crisis and things?"
08:06 Because there is a housing crisis, but I believe that the government at the moment are setting
08:12 rules in place.
08:14 I believe that if you buy a new house now, you can't rent it out as a holiday home for
08:18 at least 10 years.
08:19 And I may be wrong on this.
08:21 This is just information that I've heard.
08:23 And there are some new sort of smaller complexes being built, which are only available to locals
08:30 to buy and are only available to those that do not have a house.
08:35 So they're not available to anybody that's already got a house.
08:38 So they are trying.
08:39 Now, the infrastructure has been put in place for buses to bring people because, as I said,
08:43 the island is short-staffed at the moment as well because of the housing crisis.
08:48 And what you've got to remember as well with Brexit is a lot of the Brits that used to
08:53 come over and work for the summer or a few months or come over and take a year out, they
08:59 can't come over and work here anymore.
09:01 And even those that are in the EU, they're more than willing to come over and work for
09:06 a year, a year out in the sun and work in a bar and stuff like that.
09:10 But they can't find anywhere to live.
09:12 So the wages are not justifying the rents.
09:14 I mean, the average wage here is between 1,000 to 1,200 a month, and your average rent is
09:21 sort of between 8 and 1,200 a month.
09:25 So it's quite a big problem.
09:27 About a year ago, I was out in Lanzarote speaking to people on holiday about the leaders' comments
09:33 in Lanzarote that Maria Dolores Caruso said that she wanted higher quality tourism.
09:38 But I understand that Brits make over half of the tourist numbers on the island.
09:44 And also what was strange shortly after that, Lanzarote, the government, struck a deal with
09:49 Brianair to actually bring more tourists to the popular destination.
09:53 So it does appear that they do want Brits to still go there in big numbers.
09:57 Yeah, I think that was also taken out of context.
10:01 I think what Maria was trying to say was that we want a better class of tourists, which
10:08 when you look at how the island is developing, it has gone very much a lot of the shops and
10:18 the restaurants are a lot more glamorous now.
10:21 There's a lot more, especially in Puerto del Carmen, for example, you've got a beautiful
10:25 place called Long Beach, which is like a sort of funky beach bar.
10:29 And that 10 years ago wasn't like that in Lanzarote.
10:32 It was very much sort of, you know, not your big glamorous places, whereas Tenerife has
10:37 got some beautiful sort of glamorous restaurants.
10:40 Lanzarote has always been more of a traditional island, but it is developing to give, to attract
10:47 people that maybe have a little bit more money to spend.
10:52 And they definitely certainly want British people here, but I don't think they want your
10:57 typical sort of Brits abroad.
11:00 You sort of one euro beers, you two, you two fifty breakfast.
11:03 They're trying to keep the island very, very sort of very clean.
11:08 It's a very traditional island.
11:09 Like I said, they've even named the airport after Cesar Manrique, who was the artist that
11:13 designed the island.
11:15 So I think what Maria said, and she did, I believe she did write a letter saying that
11:22 she didn't say that it was taken out of context, was that Lanzarote needs to appeal to a different
11:28 type of tourist other than you sort of what they always say to the Brits abroad, don't
11:34 they?
11:35 Yeah, you know, it's always that it's that quote, isn't it?
11:37 Brits abroad.
11:38 And unfortunately, I mean, not all Brits, obviously, but it is the sort of British way
11:44 to come on holiday, drink and, you know, go out.
11:48 I think they I think the British people enjoy that more.
11:51 Well, some fascinating insight there.
11:54 Thank you so much for your time.
11:55 No, no.
11:56 Thank you so much.
11:57 I appreciate it.
11:57 Thank you.