{"id":19497,"date":"2026-01-18T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=19497"},"modified":"2026-01-18T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:58:26","slug":"tenerife-hotel-revenues-surge-while-staff-struggle-to-find-a-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/19497\/tenerife-hotel-revenues-surge-while-staff-struggle-to-find-a-roof\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenerife hotel revenues surge while staff struggle to find a roof"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Longform Investigation\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n \n\n

\n\n Tenerife hotel revenues surge while staff struggle to find a roof\n\n <\/h1>\n\n \n\n \n\n
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\n\n AVM\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n By Allart van Middendorp\n\n <\/span>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n \n\n
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\n\n \n\n January 18, 2026<\/span>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS<\/strong> – The smell of bleach and cleaning agents is unexpected in a derelict hotel. Yet it lingered inside a small ground-floor room of the ruined Callao Sport Hotel on December 9, 2025, just a day before a mass police eviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the walls, the luxury swimming pool sat empty as a vast concrete hole filled with stagnant rainwater and debris. Once a gleaming resort in southern Tenerife, the building had become a squatted settlement for those priced out of the local housing market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them was Juliana, aged 37. She had lived in this condemned, squatted resort for eight months because she was unable to find an affordable alternative. Originally from Colombia, she represents a growing demographic of essential workers who have become invisible in the destination they maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work as a cleaner in apartments and villas for tourists,\u201d Juliana said. \u201cEven though there are houses everywhere in this area, they are mostly for vacationers. For us, there is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Juliana walking back to her car after cleaning the room she squatted for months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Juliana was one of hundreds who squatted the Callao Sport Hotel after it closed during the pandemic. By the afternoon of December 9, the building was quiet. Most occupants had already packed their lives into old cars and vans, choosing to leave during the day rather than face the scheduled police arrival the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t pay rent with what I earn,\u201d she explains. Working primarily for cash without formal paperwork, she often lacks the proof of income required by landlords. \u201cEverything gets more expensive, but my salary stays the same. I feel used as a worker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her story is a reflection of a wider crisis. For millions of Europeans, the Canary Islands are a premier winter escape. However, the people who clean the rooms and cook the food cannot afford to live in the communities where they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The New Profile of Poverty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Jos\u00e9 Luis C\u00e1mara<\/em><\/strong><\/summary>\n
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For decades, poverty on Tenerife was associated with visible homelessness on the streets. Today, it has shifted toward a group social workers call the working poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe profile of poverty has changed significantly,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Luis C\u00e1mara of the charity C\u00e1ritas Tenerife. \u201cIn the past, it was mostly people living on the streets. Now we see many families who require support despite having full-time jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial reality is stark. In areas with heavy tourism in southern Tenerife, a basic one-bedroom flat can cost between 800 and 1,000 euros per month. For a service worker earning 1,200 euros, rent consumes nearly the entire paycheck. \u201cWe see couples who both work in local hotels but are forced to live in their cars,\u201d C\u00e1mara notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism Overwhelming Local Housing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While tourism numbers continue to break records, the housing infrastructure for residents has stalled. Data from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics shows that between 2019 and 2025, the number of traditional hotel beds fell by over 26,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the same period, vacation rental places surged to over 190,000. This shift toward hort-term tourism has effectively removed thousands of units from the long term residential market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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