THOUSANDS of people on the Spanish island of Tenerife protested over the weekend for a temporary limit to tourist arrivals amid rising housing costs for locals.

Protesters in the capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife held up placards on Saturday reading: “People live here” and “We don’t want to see our island die.”

Organisers called for a stem to the boom in short-term holiday rentals and hotel construction, demanding changes to the tourism industry that accounts for 35 per cent of GDP in the Canary Islands archipelago.