The Canary Islands—comprising Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro—are beloved by millions of British tourists each year, drawn to their sunny beaches and relaxing resorts. However, for 2026, a leading travel guide has added the archipelago to its ‘no travel’ list, signaling a pause on visitation due to the detrimental effects of mass tourism.
This decision follows years of protests from local residents frustrated by the strains on the environment, infrastructure, and soaring housing prices caused by rampant tourism. Similar backlash has occurred in other European vacation hotspots, prompting vigilant measures to protect vulnerable destinations.
Fodor’s Travel, the guide behind the list, clarified that inclusion on the list is not a boycott but a call for awareness. Their goal is to highlight places suffering from “unsustainable pressures on the land and local communities,” focusing on destinations plagued by overtourism, fragile ecosystems, and strained local populations.
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The Canary Islands have witnessed a dramatic rise in tourism, with 7.8 million visitors in 2025 alone and over 27 million airport passengers processed in the year’s first half—a five percent increase from previous years. Tourism accounts for over one-third of the islands’ GDP and employs approximately 40% of residents, but this economic success carries significant costs.
Residents face challenges including traffic congestion, escalating property prices, environmental degradation, and water shortages. Experts warn that the combination of increasing visitor numbers and climate change places the islands’ sustainability at risk.
For many Canarians, tourism remains both an essential economic lifeline and a heavy burden, with much of the wealth generated failing to reach local communities directly.
While destinations like Barcelona and Majorca, which appeared on the no travel list last year, are absent in 2026, Fodor’s stresses that these locations still face significant challenges and urges travelers to consider the impact their visits have.
Alongside the Canary Islands, other destinations featured on this year’s no travel list include Antarctica, Glacier National Park in the USA, Isola Sacra in Italy, the Jungfrau Region in Switzerland, Mexico City, Mombasa in Kenya, and Montmartre in Paris.