GRAN CANARIA, Spain — Thousands of people protested in holiday resorts in Spain's Canary Islands on Oct 20 against over-tourism which they say prices local people out of the housing market.

Under the slogan Canary Islands has a limit, residents demonstrated simultaneously in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro and called for a change in the tourism model for the islands.

In the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, protesters appeared on the beach while tourists were sunbathing and chanted "This beach is ours."

Activists claimed the arrival of millions of visitors every year depletes limited natural resources like water and damages the environment. At least 8,000 people took part, the Spanish government said.

Between January and September, 9.9 million tourists visited the Canary Islands, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, 10.3per cent more than in the same period in 2023. The islands' population was 2.2 million last year.

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