Irish holidaymakers warned as popular destination placed on 'no travel' list for 2026

Irish holidaymakers have been warned to steer clear of a very popular travel destination in 2026 as it has been places on a 'no travel' list.

The Canary Islands has been placed on popular travel magazine Fodor's Travel annual list of places across the globe that people should avoid due to unsustainable pressures on local communities and land.

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The purpose of the list is to give a "gentle nudge" to ease up on a spot for "now-not-forever", aiming to to give the popular destination a "breather".

The move comes from continues tensions between local-residents and tourists followoing major protests that took place across main resorts in the area due to frustrations around tourism.

John Daly Buckley of CanaryGreen told the magazine, 

"Residents have started protesting because they're genuinely fed up. Traffic is one of the biggest issues. What used to be a 40-minute drive from the north can now take well over an hour each way."

Fodor's Magazine said that pressure is mounting in the are after the first half of 2025 saw 7.8million visitors and processed over 27 million airport passengers - a 5% increase from the previous year, leaving locals to question how much more the islands can take.

Although tourism contributes more than a third of the Canary Islands' GDP and employs approximately 40% of its population, this surge has come at a price.

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Housing has also become a contentious issue as the Government previously changed regulations allowing residents to rent out their properties on popular sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com which has driven up both rental prices and property values leaving many young people finding it near impossible to rent or buy a home.

Water scarcity and infrastructure strain have also become a strain with experts warning that the combination of rising tourism and climate change is "unsustainable" as buses are overcrowded, constant traffic jams and beaches having to close more often due to pollution and sewage run-off.

One of Tenerife’s oldest environmental groups, Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza (ATAN), has said "the continuous arrival of new residents, mainly Europeans, worsens overpopulation, environmental degradation, land occupation and essential resources like water are being pushed to their limits".

ATAN says the issue goes far beyond economics,

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"We are losing our identity, culture, and , ultimately, our right to exist as a community. Tourism has become unlimited, mass-oriented, and largely low-cost party tourism that doesn't come to truly discover the islands, but to consume the fake backdrop."

Other destinations that have been placed on the 'no travel list' include Antarctica, Glacier National Park in the US, Isola Sacra in Italy, the Jungfrau Region in Switzerland, Mexico City, Mombasa in Kenya, and Montmarte in France.