Lanzarote says she is fed up with so many British tourists visiting the island – and wants fewer UK holidaymakers
The Spanish island has made its name as a popular British holiday destination, offering year-round sunshine, beautiful beaches and stunning volcanic scenery.
But Lanzarote has now decided it has had enough of tourists after becoming “saturated” with Brits abroad.
The Canary Islands hub is now deliberately adopting a policy of declining tourism to ‘secure the future of future generations’.
The island’s leaders say the new strategy will focus on becoming less dependent on the British, who currently make up more than half of the holiday numbers.
Lanzarote, with a census of only 151,000 inhabitants, received 2.5 million tourists by November 2022, 17 times its population.
Lanzarote has now decided that it has had enough of tourists after becoming “saturated” with Britons abroad (pictured: David Cameron on holiday in Lanzarote in 2014)
Now, the island’s council has advanced the idea of declaring itself a “tourism saturated area”, something for which they promise there is a “broad social consensus”.
The president of Lanzarote, Dolores Corojo (PSOE) said this would be the beginning of a phase of declining tourism.
“This year, we went to the travel fair, FITUR, to present the change in the tourism model we want for Lanzarote, which we have been working on throughout this mandate, despite setbacks and limitations derived from the pandemic.
“There we confirmed the return to full tourist normality and again emphasized our firm commitment to sustainability and excellence,” she said.
This position, she said, means an aspiration to receive fewer tourists, ‘with greater spending at the destination so that they generate greater wealth in the economy as a whole’.
The center of the Canary Islands is now deliberately adopting a policy of declining tourism to “secure the future of future generations”
Lanzarote, with a census of only 151,000 inhabitants, received 2.5 million tourists by November 2022, 17 times its population.
As more than half of the island’s visitors come from the UK, a ‘diversification strategy to reduce dependence on the UK market’ will need to be adopted.
Therefore, growth is expected in the French, Italian, Dutch and peninsular markets, which will have a direct impact on the increase in tourist spending at the destination.
Tourism leaders say that while the goal is shared, massive investment will be needed to attract higher-spending tourists, such as the beaches and infrastructure.
And they say it’s going to be hard work for Lanzarote to find other profitable markets to reduce the weight of tourism.
Tourists taking pictures in Timanafia National Park, a protected volcanic area located on the southwest coast of Lanzarote
“There is almost no industrial land and aquaculture is not well received either. If the decision is not to grow tourism and at the same time there will be no industrial land planning and other models will be rejected, all parties will have to ask themselves what future model they want to develop,” said one of the business leaders.
Hotels will also need money to upgrade themselves.
At this stage, Lanzarote’s island council has not said how it plans to reduce tourism saturation or the number of visitors.
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