Canary Islands panic as Tenerife hotels set for major disruption

Hospitality workers in are threatening to strike unless their wage demands are met within 15 days. The are one of the most popular destinations for , and attracted almost 18 million visitors last year.

Over seven million visitors headed to in 2024, making the island the most popular among its peers. As well as being one of the hottest times of the year, July is one of the busiest months of the summer season. It is normally the month when thousands of British holidaymakers flock to the island to enjoy some well earned rest and relaxation.

However, unions said workers could stage a walk out from the beginning of July, if no agreement was reached on wage increases.

Talks were held between the unions and employers' associations Ashotel and Aero at a hotel in the island's capital on Thursday.

The Sindicalistas de Base and UGT unions are demanding a rise of 6.5%, while the CCOO would accept a smaller 5% increase, according to minutes of the meeting obtained by the news agency EFE.

Union representatives insist that any agreement must include a full pay rise, without any loopholes or deductions, and must be backdated to January 2025.

Workers are asking for a pay rise that is much higher than inflation, which in April stood at 2.187%.

They refuse to engage in any further discussions about other work-related issues until their demands over pay are fully complied with.

The Sindicalistas de Base union called on the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, and regional tourism and employment minister, Jéssica de León, to step in and mediate.

The two helped soothe tensions and thrash out a deal during a previous dispute before Easter.

A restaurant owner in the Balearic Islands dismissed the idea that hospitality workers were poorly paid.

Mariusz Szymecki told that salaries in the local tourism industry are some of the highest on the island.

"In Spain, everything has the unions and the unions in Majorca kind of control every segment of the tourist industry," he explained.

"They tell you how much you have to pay to every category of employee. So every year we receive around February or March updates from the unions, from the local authority, how much we have to pay from the 1st of April for every employee. And these wages are going always above inflation."

Mr Szymecki runs a thriving catering business in Palma with his partners Edgar Lagassi and Andrius Kulbokas, that consists of six restaurants under the chain Five Senses Collection.