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Angry residents on the Canary Island of Lanzarote have launched a direct action campaign against mass tourism, targeting budget-conscious British holidaymakers. Tactics include gluing shut key boxes for Airbnb rentals, erecting fake police tape at beaches, and distributing leaflets accusing tourists of contributing to local displacement. This comes as the island's government tries to rebrand as an upmarket destination, but hotel prices have fallen, indicating lack of demand. Meanwhile, infrastructure strains such as water shortages are fueling resident resentment amid forecasts of a record 2026 season due to Middle East tensions driving tourists to safer Spanish resorts.
The latest holiday hotspot to declare war on tourists is Lanzarote - the island beloved by budget-conscious holidaying Brits. Over 2 million travellers from Britain and Ireland visit the cheapest of the Canary Islands every year - accounting for more than half of their tourist business.
But now some angry locals, fed up with rising property prices and overcrowded beaches, are determined to make less-well-off Brits stay away - and have even launched an aggressive campaign of intimidation to scare them off. Among the tactics being used is the glueing-up of key boxes outside Airbnb rentals so that tourists can't get into their apartments at all.
The direct action campaign comes as Lanzarote's local government is making its own attempt to make the island's image more upmarket - so that fewer tourists will come but spend more money. But set against both are business owners and rental property landlords who insist the island will quickly bankrupt itself if it finally stops the huge annual inflow of budget price Brits out of misguided snobbery.
The Daily Mail visited this fraught holiday hotspot to where this summer unsuspecting Brits are set to find themselves on the frontline of the battle for Lanzarote. And we found that a new direct action strategy which has spread widely across Lanzarote in recent weeks is the sabotage of key boxes.
These small, sturdy containers affixed to the exterior walls of rental properties allow holiday makers equipped with a PIN-code to get the keys to their rental property - often Airbnbs - without having to meet the landlord. But as they are easy to identify they are easy to target and an increasing number have been vandalised in recent weeks.
Footage shared last week by local platforms like 'Islas de Resistencia' and 'Colectivo Tabaiba' show lock boxes for holiday flats being sabotaged with extra-strong glue. Another strategy is the use of fake police tape to cordon off popular tourist spots like beach access paths and mark them as closed. One video shows a volcanic beauty spot being cordoned off with red and white tape and a fake 'no entry' sign being erected, in a bid to keep tourists out.
Activists also filmed themselves placing messages on rental cars, which tell holidaymakers that by using tourist flats they are 'contributing to our displacement'. Another widely circulated card reads: 'We have nowhere to live - Travel responsibly, don't be complicit in this business.
' Alongside these has been a new wave of graffiti sprayed late at night on highly visible sites across the island with English language slogans like 'Tourists go home'. But those behind such direct action have their work cut out - because projections are that the 2026 season could be one of the biggest ever seen here.
Experts predict a surge in booking numbers because Spanish resorts are seen as safe havens while the US-Israel-Iran conflict in the Middle East rumbles on - whereas places more proximate to the war like Dubai, Turkey and even Greece are perceived as more risky. The wider Canary Islands have already received 5.69 million international tourists during the first four months of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase, according to Spain's National Institute of Statistics - with the summer season just starting in earnest.
But many residents are concerned that their infrastructure will struggle to cope with any more tourists. The government admitted to the Daily Mail that it wants to attract 'better quality' - i.e. wealthier - tourists instead. But figures suggest plans to try to change the perception of Lanzarote into being more high end - closer to Ibiza than Benidorm - have so far struggled.
And instead of rising as intended, prices at both four and five-star hotels fell repeatedly over the last six-months. And five-star hotels charged an average of €353 per night in March, down 2 per cent on the same month last year, following declines of 3 per cent in February and 2 per cent in January.
It seems there simply isn't the demand at that higher price point to drive a cultural shift in the type of budget of people who want a holiday here. Meanwhile many residents complain they are being subjected to weekly water cuts. They say hotels and tourist towns are prioritised but residential villages are left cut off for up to six days at a time
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Lanzarote Tourism Conflict Canary Islands Overtourism British Tourists Targeted Airbnb Sabotage Resident Protests Against Tourism Water Cuts Canary Islands Tourism Price Drop Spain Middle East Conflict Tourism Shift
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