TUI boss makes surprising pledge to Spain in bid to override bitter anti-tourism message

The head of the airline TUI has announced plans to invest in residential housing on the Canary Islands rather than build new hotels, as angry local rail against the archipelago's non-stop tourism trade.

Sebastian Ebel, CEO of TUI Airways, explained that the company was mindful of the strength of feeling across the Canaries. He said: "We are offering to create living spaces for employees and other residents; we are happy to tackle the issue head-on."

However, he was keen to note that it was for policy-makers to determine how to regulate tourism, not bosses of multinational companies. He said: "It is not our place to dictate how many tourists a destination can accommodate; that is the responsibility of local politicians".

The 61-year-old German warned that besides the Canaries, Ibiza and Majorca may also be overrun with tourists this summer season. He said: "We might reach capacity limits in the Balearic Islands."

This comes amid fierce protests on the archipelago about rampant overtourism.

Hundreds of thousands of residents took to the streets on April 20 across Tenerife, Gran Canaria and elsewhere, claiming that tourists, British or otherwise, were mobbing the places they call home.

The tourism industry was also said to be damaging local eco-systems.

April 20 Gran Canaria protest, which was reported by local publication Canarian Weekly, was organised under the same message as the Tenerife demonstration. The message was: "The Canary Islands have a limit."

At the Tenerife march, one protester told an Express reporter that the demonstration was not about ostracising visitors.

He said: “It’s about mass tourism and the corruption of our government. There is a limit.”

Another agreed that the protests were not about "tourismphobia".