Nestor Marrero’s parents are part of a generation of Canary Islanders who used to believe tourism was a godsend. They saw how European visitors, tempted by the all-year-round warmth of places like Tenerife or Lanzarote, ploughed money into the little archipelago off the coast of Africa, transforming dusty deserts into bustling resorts.

However, as the number of visitors relentlessly increased, the Marreros began to have doubts. Small cities were descending on places historically built to handle small numbers of fruit farmers or fishermen, and the infrastructure was struggling to cope. They came to believe this ‘overtourism’ was not providing a better life for their children and when protests erupted last year under the banner “the Canaries have a limit” they were amongst the estimated 120,000 who took to the streets.

“My mum and dad are from the generation that were saying that tourism was everything for the Canary Islands,” Nestor told the Express.

“[But] they were on the protest last year because they see the situation is really bad.”

Their son was one of the organisers inspired to protest in part because of the impact he had seen on the natural world as the secretary of local environmental group the Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza.

But, according to Nestor, it is not only the land that suffers from hordes of Europeans slipping into Speedos for all-day drinking in sprawling all-inclusive resorts; locals are beginning to have their quality of life affected.

“Water supply in the municipalities in the South [of Tenerife] where the tourist demand is bigger is a problem,” he said.

“The hotels and tourists don’t suffer [but] the villages where the locals are have water cuts all the time.

“The amount of people demanding the water has grown, but not the capacity to produce more water from the desalination plants [which were built] long ago.

“My sister has a kid and [often] doesn’t have water. But the people in the hotels [nearby] do, [they even have a] swimming pool.

“All my friends are suffering these cuts and have to wait for hours to use water.

“Sometimes they put the water back at [midnight] so if you have a child you have to wake them up for a bath. It’s really bad.”

This is far from the only way Nestor says local Canary Island folk are made to feel like “second-class citizens”.

Many of his friends have left their homeland entirely because of a lack of employment opportunities and sky-high rents.

He believes that the money tourists bring to the island is going straight into the pockets of big multi-national tour operators who own the major resorts rather than local businesses.

“Renting is impossible and I have so many friends that were working in the Canary Islands [but] they are now leaving because they cannot find accommodation,” he added.

“[The only way for them to stay in the Canaries is] to live with their parents. So they are going to mainland Spain or even other countries to find jobs that allow them to live with dignity.”

Those who remain face a daily battle with the creaking Canarian infrastructure.

“I have friends that wake up at 5am in the morning, drive to the work and sleep in the car for two or three hours,” he added.

“They do this so they are on time for work because otherwise you cannot make it because the traffic is too bad.”

Nestor is not against all British people coming to visit the Canary Islands, but he wants those who visit to think about spreading their money around.

He added: “It’s really complicated because on one hand we know we need tourism. But the quality of the tourism, especially what the British offer to the islands – where they go to [all-inclusive] hotels and stay only there for two weeks and leave – [is not helpful].

“Those hotels belong to people who are not from the islands and they leave no money here.

“We don’t need this type of tourist anymore. They visit the hotel, demand water, food and create pollution, but they don’t provide anything for the islands.

“So for people booking their package holiday my message would be: don’t come.”

Nestor and his family will have another chance to make their feelings towards the Canary Islands tourism model clear at the end of next month.

Another huge protest is planned by him and his fellow activists for May 18.

However, this demonstration, targeting the capital city, is only the start. If the government fails to take action on the overtourism, Nestor says more direct acts of civil disobedience will follow as foreigners flock to the island for the high season.

“They will have to listen, because we have done three demonstrations already and nothing has changed,” he added.

“That is the last time it’s just going to be a demonstration. The next actions are going to become more direct public disobedience. So disrupting events made for tourists or meetings with the government and different stakeholders for tourism.”