Thousands of individuals across Spain's Canary Islands have gathered to protest against a form of mass tourism they argue is inundating the Atlantic archipelago.

The demonstrators advocate for restrictions on tourist influx and regulations on what they perceive as unbridled development detrimental to the environment and local inhabitants.

They emphasize that their stance does not oppose the tourism sector, which constitutes 35% of the Canaries' economy.

Official statistics from 2023 indicate that 13.9 million tourists visited the seven primary islands, a figure nearly six times greater than the islands' population of 2.2 million.

Additionally, the tourism industry provides employment for 40% of the archipelago's workforce. While the primary markets for the islands are the UK and Germany, they also attract significant numbers of visitors from mainland Spain.

Tourists are attracted by the Canaries' beaches and ample sunshine all year round.

In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the largest island, Tenerife, demonstrators held placards that read "Tourist - respect my land!" and "Canaries have a limit".

"The major problem is that it's the model of massive tourism that is intransigent in the island... [for] decades, and it's just destroying the island... and the life of the residents here," protester Lydia Morales told the BBC.

"We are feeling we're being pushed away, our priorities are not taken in consideration," she said, adding that politicians were "more focused" on building tourism complexes and hotels.

Street rallies also took place in parts of mainland Spain on Saturday.

The demonstrators say they want a sustainable model that factors in environmental impacts such as water shortages in a warming climate, and which puts less pressure on costs and housing.

In 2023, 34% of Canary Islanders were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the second-highest figure in Spain after Andalusia, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Last week, activists begun a hunger strike on Tenerife, in protest at what they see as the destructive growth of tourism on the Canary Islands.

Protesters are demanding a halt to the construction of a hotel and a beach resort in the south of the island. They also want a moratorium on all tourism development projects.

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