Tourism in Tenerife plummets by 19%

At the end of July 2004, we were stunned by the news that the number of tourists visiting Tenerife had plummeted by 19% (year-on-year figure for May 2004).

We wondered whether it had something to do with the Island's rapidly deteriorating environment. However, we quickly realised that the real reason was much simpler - tourist ingratitude for the efforts by Tenerife's politicians and developers to concrete over every last inch of the place.

Whoever is to blame for falling visitor numbers, it cannot be us. After all, Tenerife does its utmost to pander to tourists' whims. Our government has been building roads as if there were no tomorrow, just so holidaymakers can drive from one grotty urban development to another in the shortest possible time (traffic jams permitting). Of course, some might say that the island's rubbish dumps, filthy ravines, horrid new buildings, sewage discharges, and oil slicks have put foreign visitors off but we find that very hard to believe. Such things are not new - based on past experience, the government has every reason to think that these delights attract tourists in droves. Presumably that is why our leaders are sticking to a winning formula.

"Traditional" rural cottage .

Politicians are not the only ones who should feel aggrieved by tourists' ingratitude. Our urban planners must also be deeply hurt by foreigners' failiure to appreciate their handiwork. Stay-away holidaymakers would act differently if they only stopped to think about the time, money, and thought squandered in building pointless, badly-designed industrial estates. The foreigners could also spare a thought for the islanders' sacrifice in maintaining the traditional "bare breeze block look" of their dwellings so that Europe's snap-happy hordes have something to show the folks back home.

Then there are Tenerife's artificial beaches (lovingly crafted with dredged sand and then laced with effluent) built just for the sake of the sun-seekers. Apart from being expensive, dredging exacts a terrible toll on our sea-bed flora and fauna. That's why tourists could at least come and park their bums on the sand we have so thoughtfully provided for them.

Anyone would think the Fates have taken unkindly to "The Fortunate Isles". In another cruel turn of events, the drop in tourist numbers comes just as the Island's authorities were planning another 500,000 beds in Tenerife, doubling existing capacity. No doubt the looming bed crisis means our poor leaders are going to spend many a sleepless night. Stone-hearted tourists might tell them to count sheep (or even "mouflons") but we can only sympathise. Others might accuse the local "rat-pack" of a combination of wildly over-optimistic forecasts, greed, and wishful thinking. We, more charitably, prefer Burns' judgement:

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy !

Nothing, it appears, can woo tourists from Perfidious Albion back to our built-up shores - not even Tenerife's Eighth Wonder of the World, a stately pleasure dome stuffed with non-native animals. There are parrots, crocodiles, bald eagles - you name it - only the Yeti and The Bearded Lady are missing. On the subject of wildlife, one must mention Tenerife's famed discoteques, where specimens of Homo Sapiens slug it out as the local police observe from their hides.

Oil on Tenerife's south coast.

It also makes one's blood boil when one thinks how valiently the developers toil to cram the coast with luxury hotels - and all for less than the price of a boarding house in Scunthorpe. These elegant establishments make heroic efforts to cater to their patrons' discriminating tastes - fish and chip suppers, the nightly "knees-up", and "happy hours" - alas to no avail!

Are tourists unmoved by the beauties of Tenerife's protected nature areas, replete with illegal concrete shacks, roads, and waste dumps? Do they really believe that the Island is run by scoundrels rather than by intelligent men serving the common weal? To judge by the May 2004 visitor numbers, the answer is a resounding "yes" on both counts.

Tourist accommodation inland, miles away from the nearest beach.

All in all, tourists simply fail to grasp the efforts being made by Tenerife's politicians and developers to turn this tropical isle into a new Manhattan.

However, we should not allow hurt pride to shake our resolve. "The powers that be" are already working on the problem. We can look forward to further expansion of Tenerife's busy airport (good news for 'plane spotters!) and construction of a monster tanker haven in the south-eastern corner of the Island. The resulting surge in population promises more motorways and electricity pylons to adorn the landscape.

Tenerife may be a mote in the Atlantic Ocean but it has the kind of vast development plans that any African dictator would be proud of. Far from being discouraged by the fall in tourism, we should take heart from this reverse and plough on regardless.

Tourism