Is tourism in the Canaries sustainable and how does it impact local economy?
These are questions that the CERE guest researcher, Ana Lopez asks in her PhD work at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.Growing up, Ana has been asking herself if it is possible to alter the tourism sector so it better preserves island unique environment. Even at a quick glance you get all information needed to observe that the landscape has changed due to tourism according to Ana: - If you take a closer look, especially in the south part of the islands, you find that the landscape has changed from infinite virgin beaches to an overconstructed landscape of hotels and apartments. Some of them quite near the sea and protected areas. These impacts grabbed my attention and made me wonder what the real impact of tourism and its emission was. Does the economic benefit of tourism compensate the negative effects of it? (Click on headline to learn more)

Ana Lopez presents her research in Ammarnäs.