Lost on the way home
19-year-old Jay Slater was heading back after a night out in Playa de Las Americas when he somehow turned up in the remote, rugged national park area around Masca, on the far side of Tenerife. Reports say he had no water and just 1% phone battery. Friends and family say they have no idea how he got there – fuelling questions about what happened to Jay Slater in Tenerife.
What happened next to the popular Lancashire teenager has been the subject of intense international coverage. Fragmented calls to friends, phone triangulation and reported witness sightings have not given investigators enough to build a clear timeline. At the time of writing, the young bricklayer has not been found, and the Jay Slater Masca ravine search remains central to the case.
Tenerife police have faced criticism for refusing offers of help from UK police, including manpower, resources and technology. Despite saying they did not need support from their UK counterparts, Spanish police called off their unsuccessful search on Saturday 29 June 2024.
Tourists not welcome?
Over the past two years, a wave of anti-tourism messages has appeared on buildings, roads, walls and bridges across the island. The slogans include "tourists go home", "too many guiris" (guiri is offensive slang for foreigners, particularly British people) and "Locals are forced to move out and YOU are responsible for that… digital nomads you are NOT welcome here." The language reflects growing anger about mass tourism and helps explain why are locals protesting tourism in Tenerife.
The Olive Press reports that many residents feel an influx of visitors is driving environmental problems and adding pressure to day-to-day life on the island. The anger boiled over in April, when 50,000 people took to the streets in a major protest with placards including "you enjoy, we suffer." These demonstrations have brought global attention to Tenerife tourist protests and the recurring message tourists go home.
Since mass tourism took off in the late 1950s, the Canary Islands have developed rapidly from largely farming and fishing communities into an economic powerhouse, with an annual GDP of €49 billion. Tourism accounts for around 30% of this, but locals argue the money is not filtering down and that many residents are living in poverty. They point to the fact that GDP per capita in the Canaries is 20.8% lower than the national average and the third-lowest in Spain.
Against this backdrop, some visitors say the atmosphere feels less welcoming than in previous decades – another factor behind the sense of Tenerife declining tourism appeal.
It is also reported that some Brits are choosing rival destinations such as Benidorm, which actively court British tourism.
Extinct timeshare resorts
In the 1980s and 1990s, Tenerife became notorious for hyper-aggressive timeshare sales. Beachfront walkways were crowded with (literally) thousands of commission-only touts called OPCs, who would pester tourists to the point of harassment. Their aim was to funnel holidaymakers into high-pressure presentations at the many resorts built by notorious, larger-than-life operators.
"Authorities stepped in when the scale of the problem escalated to the point where tourism itself was being threatened as people began to shun Tenerife and the other Canary Islands," explains Greg Wilson, CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC). "Consumer laws were created to curb the excesses."
Resorts pushed back against these rules and managed to get away with ignoring them for 17 years. From 2016 onwards, however, courts began awarding compensation to victims, to be paid by timeshare companies. Eight years later, many timeshare sales operations in Europe have been wiped out financially and forced to close. Without the incentive to keep formerly pristine buildings maintained as sales centres, many sites have fallen into disrepair.
What was once a fashionable, sought-after way to holiday as part of a private club no longer looks so appealing.
Hundreds of thousands of Brits remain committed to paying annual fees for unwanted timeshare resorts in places such as Tenerife.
Trapped?
Timeshare contracts are designed to lock members in. Annual fees can be increased at the resort’s discretion, and members can be left with little choice but to pay – whether they travel that year or not.
Exchange systems are notoriously unworkable, meaning many owners end up returning to their home resort regardless of its condition – and regardless of how the area’s popularity changes over time.
If you are stuck in a timeshare membership you no longer want, get in touch with our team at the Timeshare Advice Centre.
You may even be entitled to financial compensation if you were mis-sold your membership.
