Page 5 | To be surprised Tenerife is overrun with tourists?

Whenwillitgetwarm · 2024-04-20T10:43:40+00:00

Have seen in the news that there are mass protests in Tenerife against tourists. There’s lots of graffiti on walls telling tourists to ‘get out!’ etc. Personally I’m surprised it’s such a popular destination given how awful the place is. It is hands down the worst place I’ve ever been in my life. I went over 20 years ago. Never again. The locals were the rudest people I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting. There were lots of high rise hotels, the beaches weren’t nice. However, it’s the attitude of the locals towards tourists even back then that made me vow never go back. Tourists were treated like barely tolerated cash machines. If you want winter sun, I recommend Cape Verde.

RiverSea · 20/04/2024 19:54

When people went somewhere once decades ago and decide the whole place is awful to this day 🙄🙄

My BIL has actually been living in Tenerife for the last few years. He works near the university. We went for Christmas and ate dinner on the balcony in the sunshine. It was lovely. It was so easy to book a flight and we hired a car and went to some spectacular scenery. Gorgeous weather even in winter.

MadKittenWoman · 20/04/2024 20:12

If you stay in Las Americas, yes, it's awful. If you stay virtually anywhere else, including Costa Adeje which borders it, it's fine. Not everyone wants to stay in an AI eating English food, getting rowdy drunk and watching drag acts. Mount Teide is a great day out; Masca and Los Gigantes are lovely. The North is very green. Whalewatching and snorkelling is very good. There is plenty of natural beauty and we find the locals very friendly. We're in Lanzarote at the moment and didn't see today's protests as they're in the downmarket area; every place has one- you just need to do your research and avoid.

Whatismypasswordthen · 20/04/2024 20:13

Don't think you've understood the protests or any of the issues involved. Given that you went once and hated it, I'm surprised you care enough to post.

HeadDeskHeadDesk · 20/04/2024 20:13

exomoon · 20/04/2024 19:35

However, it’s the attitude of the locals towards tourists even back then that made me vow never go back. Tourists were treated like barely tolerated cash machine

OP, you are so brazenly tone deaf it's sickening. The Canarians are protesting against the unsustainable tourism model and the degradation of housing, water supply, the landscape, the building of hotels on public land, the precariousness of work, unemployment and more. And all you care about is your holiday.

So what do the protesters want to do to keep their economy afloat instead? What did they do before the Canaries became a tourism mecca and particularly a winter sun destination? Why is the work situation there precarious? They have all-year-round tourist business.

MuggedByReality · 20/04/2024 20:14

I completely sympathise with the people of the Canary Islands who are fed up with the tourists which constitute 40% of their entire economy. I’m sure they will cope perfectly well without me and my horrid British money, so in solidarity with their struggle to reclaim their islands, I won’t be visiting at any point in future.

Blondeshavemorefun · 20/04/2024 20:16

Going 20/25yrs ago things may have changed

We love it there - been going maybe 13yrs

TedWilson · 20/04/2024 20:18

sleepyscientist · 20/04/2024 18:08

We used to go in the 1990s when I was a kid and went back in 2014 its okay for a cheap holiday in the sun a short flight away. Places like Turkey, Egypt and Morocco have better weather and all inclusive options now.

I think the quality and safety in Tenerife far outweighs these places. I wouldn't take my kids to Egypt or Morocco, would consider Turkey at a push.

Noyok · 20/04/2024 20:21

Lanzarote and Grand Canaria are beautiful. Never experienced any hostility. Tenerife is a shit tip in comparison! My sister just came back from Tenerife to visit her friend who lives and works there ,she has worked in the Canary Islands for over 30 years . Her friend is absolutely hating living in Tenerife 😞

pikkumyy77 · 20/04/2024 20:25

Jeezitneverends · 20/04/2024 19:33

How does that work? Surely it’s not crowded if no one goes.

We go 3 times a year, love getting some winter sun in the short December days, due to go in a couple of weeks which will be a blessed relief from the awful weather at home…then another couple of weeks later in the summer.

I avoid the pissed up Sun reading knuckle draggers like the plague

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Its a well known joke. Should have used the sarcasm font.

PassingStranger · 20/04/2024 21:51

Gymmum82 · 20/04/2024 12:32

Tenerife is ok. I mean it’s fine for an AI holiday. What I’m most surprised about is the recommendation of Cape Verde? Now that is one of the worst places ive ever been. Absolutely nothing to do. So windy you can’t sit out without getting sandblasted and miserable if the weather is bad.
I’ve never heard a single person say they’d go back

Agree. I know someone that went for a family birthday and said they wouldn't go back. Not much to do.

G123456789 · 20/04/2024 21:58

I've been over 20 times. Due to work I could only take winter holidays. I stay in the same area and yes it is like Weston super mare with sun. But if you look at the protests it's not about tourists per say but the uncontrolled building, the fact that ex pats, air b&bs are forcing prices up. I met a relative of a England football player who was looking for a property out there in January...he said things were ridiculously expensive.

The hotel I return to time and time again has the nicest, friendliest staff possible. The op went 20 years ago so would have been much younger, the locals have do deal with young pissed up brits all the time...I would be that friendly muself

Rewis · 20/04/2024 22:09

Wanted to go to Cape Verde but the flight time is longer and the prices were significantly higher. Went to tenriffe instead. Is it the most incredible place I've even been? Nope. But it was affordable, winter sun and we picked a spot a bit further out. Had a lovely trip to Teide aswell.

Youcannotbeseriousreally · 20/04/2024 22:11

Tenerife isn’t my cup of tea at all, but OP , Cape Verde is boring AF. If you want winter sun then the UAE, Caribbean , Indian Ocean are all much better options!

SlipperyFish11 · 20/04/2024 22:12

I just got back from there a week ago. Ugly island but we went for the sun and the hotel. It was great weather, my kids had a good time, and all in it wasn't too pricey.

Would I go back? No. Do I regret going? No.

I'm struggling to understand why they wouldn't want tourists, given that the much of island is a shithole.

feellikeanalien · 20/04/2024 22:34

The Canaries have never really appealed to me but I think these types of protests will become more common in many tourist areas. It's already happened in Venice with all the massive cruise ships docking there.

I lived in Portugal for quite a few years in a popular tourist area. When I go back now and visit friends their kids are struggling to be able to afford somewhere to live because so many places which might have been rented out long term are now being used for Air Bnbs. Prices have risen so much that even flats are becoming unaffordable.

There has to be a way to balance the needs of tourism (which is necessary for the economies of some areas where the traditional industries are dying out) and the needs of the local people to be able to have affordable housing.

NecessaryNC24 · 21/04/2024 07:45

HangingOver · 20/04/2024 13:30

British tourists do behave appalling TBF. I live in a UK tourism hotspot and in the last few years shitting on the beaches seems to have become a thing.

The nearest I ever came to that was the camel shit on the beach in Tangier , wow.

LlynTegid · 21/04/2024 07:49

If people in the UK were as passionate about things as the Spanish are, there would have been similar protests in Cornwall, the Lake District and several other places. Though apart from 2020 and 2021, those who go there are probably not as unpleasant as the average Brit in Spain is.

NecessaryNC24 · 21/04/2024 07:51

HeadDeskHeadDesk · 20/04/2024 15:47

I've never been to Tenerife but I haven't especially enjoyed the two Canary Islands I have been to and I've not been keen to go to any of them since. The Balearics are so much nicer. That said, a good dose of winter sun only 4 or 5 hours from home is the main reason people go, and as long as you don't have unrealistic expectations beyond that, then I'm sure it's fine. I'm sure there are some lovely places in Tenerife but if your first experience was of a downmarket concretey resort with crap food and tacky bars then it is going to taint your opinion of the whole island.

This movement of 'Tourists Go Home' is everywhere across popular parts of Europe at the moment. We've seen anti tourist graffiti in Bordeaux and in Saint Sebastian. I think these people need to be careful what they wish for as many of these places owe their entire economy to tourism.

I hate the way some Brits behave on holiday. I loathe it. But we tend to tell ourselves we are the absolute worst and every other nationality is more civilised. It's not true. It's the Aussies being awful in Bali. The American youngsters behaving appallingly on their 'Spring Break' in Florida. The German drunkards are equally loathed and feared in some parts of Spain. The Russians I saw in Turkey and Egypt were not out of control, but just horribly menacing and thuggish, unbelievably rude and intimidating to staff and behaved like pigs at the dinner table.

I went to Fuertaventura once and it was awful. Barren, horribly windswept, soulless, charmless, everywhere looked like a glorified, white painted Butlin camp. You could fall into a coma from boredom. From what I can tell, Cape Verde seems to be exactly like that. But worse. And further away.

Edited

Totally agree.

frayble · 21/04/2024 07:54

5

NecessaryNC24 · 21/04/2024 07:56

G123456789 · 20/04/2024 21:58

I've been over 20 times. Due to work I could only take winter holidays. I stay in the same area and yes it is like Weston super mare with sun. But if you look at the protests it's not about tourists per say but the uncontrolled building, the fact that ex pats, air b&bs are forcing prices up. I met a relative of a England football player who was looking for a property out there in January...he said things were ridiculously expensive.

The hotel I return to time and time again has the nicest, friendliest staff possible. The op went 20 years ago so would have been much younger, the locals have do deal with young pissed up brits all the time...I would be that friendly muself

The uncontrolled building is a massive factor.

Lanzarote kept a lid on that and those restrictions plus Cesar Manrique left it relatively unspoiled (except for PDC) if I were to go back to any of the Canaries it would be that one.

DustyLee123 · 21/04/2024 07:57

I’d rather go to any of the other islands than Tenerife. Went once, never again.

SpringleDingle · 21/04/2024 07:57

We stayed in a lovely hotel in Los Gigantes last year. It was wonderful, DD and I swam, sun bathed, ate and went nick-nack shopping. Heaven! No locals were rude to us, in fact they were very pleasant.

Loveskin2024 · 21/04/2024 07:59

I was planning a trip there this year for some winter sun. I’m not going now I see tourists aren’t welcome. Will go elsewhere

Berlinlover · 21/04/2024 08:00

The north of the island is beautiful, certain parts of the south are awful.

DramaLlamaBangBang · 21/04/2024 08:02

We went to a quieter bit of Tenerife at Christmas It was lovely, and everyone was friendly. The touristy areas are very touristy. My DS is doing Spanish GCSE which was the main reason we chose a Spanish speaking place. Where we were staying they did like him speaking Spanish but we went to Playa Las Americas for the day and he was like the second coming! They were chatting away to him in restaurants, asking him about his Spanish classes at school, telling him he should be teaching us Spanish, helping him with his pronunciation etc. I can imagine they are so used to people shouting at them in English they were delighted to hear a tourist try to speak a bit of Spanish.