Hotel staff in the Canary Islands are having to self-medicate, as they struggle to deal with impossible workloads and low pay.
Local residents on the popular tourist islands will take to the streets today to protest against mass tourism.
They will be joined by Spanish expats in Britain at an event held close to the London Eye at 12pm today.
Protesters say mass tourism is inflicting irreparable damage to the environment and is leading to poverty among the islanders due to low pay and rising property prices.
The organisers of the London rally, Canarians in the UK, told Express.co.uk that overwhelming workloads were affecting the mental health of hotel staff on the islands.
They also explained that the low wages they receive made it almost impossible for the workers to afford their own homes.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We also know about ‘The Kellys,’ a self-named group of cleaning staff who are suffering and self-medicating to keep up with the intense workload, and yet still struggle to find affordable housing.”
Organisers of the protests argue the current economic model is unsustainable and contrary to popular belief does not benefit local residents.
They point out that the majority of businesses connected to the tourist industry like bars, restaurants and even shops are foreign owned and that the average salary in the Canary Islands remains the second lowest in Spain.
At the same time property prices have rocketed to the point that islanders cannot afford to buy or even rent, forcing some people to live in camper vans.
“Most of the available houses and flats have become Airbnbs, and there are no houses of any kind to be rented by locals,” the spokesperson for the Canarians in the UK explained.
“Everything is now catered for tourists because it is more profitable.”
The group insisted that they are not against tourists, but rather this protest is to highlight the dire situation faced by locals in the Canaries and damage done by mass tourism.
“Our intention is only to raise awareness and to inform,” they said.
“We have no negative feelings towards tourists, and our only aim is to put pressure on the Canarian government to change to a more sustainable model of tourism.
“Unfortunately, the damage done by the current model cannot be reversed, but we can make a change going forward and stop more planned mega-projects, most of them illegal, from being built.”