(Reuters) Canary Islands hoteliers called for action to tackle a resurgent migrant crisis by the Spanish government and the European Union, saying on Wednesday that they could not allocate more rooms to house people who arrive on rickety boats.
More than 15,400 people this year have braved the perilous Atlantic crossing from Africa to the Canaries, which lie around 100 km (60 miles) off Morocco’s west coast, 10 times more than in 2019.
Nearly 1,800 African migrants were stranded in a dockside camp on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday after a wave of arrivals overwhelmed local authorities’ capacity to house them, officials said. Others are being hosted in hotels on the archipelago.
