I must agree,

Billyboy.

Sorry but i have to disagree on this subject.

You say get a proper job, What do you define has a proper job. These people who sell timeshare is there way of life, what about lucky lucky men. These people travel on boats for days seeking a new life in tenerife, some dont even get to tenerife and die at sea. Not everyone in life is lucky enough to have good incomings and i for one applaud anyone who trys to improve there way of life.

Yes, timeshare touts can be a nuisance, Yes lucky lucky men can be a nuisance, But at least they are willing to work whatever line of work it may be.

Enough said i will get down from my soap box now.

Hmmmm, i am not sure that the immigrants who are arriving by the boat load in lovely tenerife end up being lucky lucky men..and some do not always come over for the right reasons. Most get repatriated or end up getting sent on to madrid after first being held in a detention centre of some sort.

I agree with the original post, i would enjoy my holiday far more if i wasn't constantly bugged by people stuffing tickets in my face telling me if i go to a 5 hour presentation i have won a few quid.. or those people who try to drag you into their bar or restaurant when it is perfectly obvious you have just eaten at another one..

I am all for people working..but that just takes the michael..

I agree the ticket touts can be a pain when they are every ten minutes along the road but all you have to say to them on their approach is that you already own a property in Tenerife and that you are not interested in another one whilst you continue walking and that is it, end of story, they say thanks and they leave you alone. If you stop to let them talk to you or take the card from them then you only have yourself to blame because you know what's coming.

We have never had to use colourful language to get rid of them. Just be firm but polite, manners don't cost anything. Over the years we have actually had quite a laugh with them, but that is perhaps because we don't class them as dipsticks. It's worked for us for over 23 years. As for ruining Tenerife's reputation. I don't think this will happen because of ticket touts, they have been there for ever but people still return to the Island and they certainly would not put me off going there. Let's face it if people stayed away from Countries where these people work then there would be a lot of empty resorts.

Regards Jackie

i agree ticket touts for bars are a pain but there just doing there job- if im going into that bar anyway i always let them take me in - at end of the day they have to earn a crust. I find there 2 for 1 offers hilarious - its normally about 7 euro for 2 or 3.5 euro for 1 - hhhmmm how does that equal a 2 for 1. Gives me a laugh anyway.
I normally ask which bar and if im not going i just say where im off to so they can get there mates if there working there - normally if they bug you we just say " im not going there but thanks anyway" and they leave you alone. mostly they are polite if there rude then i just ignore them - theres polite and rude folk in all walks of life so you just get on with it and not take it personally.
i love tenerife and no way would i let that put me off going.

new year here we come!!!

I find them ok so long as they arent rude, I know they are trying to make a living, but on the odd occasion one particular bar PR was personally very rude to us, making fun of our accents and walking along beside us making derogatory remarks, even though we smiled and said we were going somewhere else! Its ones like that who get the nice ones a bad name in my opinion.

Also think its slightly unfair to say "if you take a card you have only yourself to blame" ...............thats fair enough if you are lucky enough to go abroad every year, however how many times have I seen posts on here saying................we are going abroad for the first time..................surely you cant say those people deserve it! Fair enough sites like this really help inform them of this sort of thing, but not everyone is on the internet ................I know my older brother and sister in law havent a clue with computers!

Normally a smile and no thanks works ok, but not with the more assertive bolshy ones!!!

Interesting replies!

If you want your valuable holiday time taken up with endless "offers" then good luck to you all - I don't.

They aren't proper jobs, maybe your rose tinted glasses need cleaning a bit. Since when has harrassing innocent tourists been a vocation!!

Tootsie

When I said 'if you take a card you only have yourself to blame' what I meant by that was that nothing in this world is free, so when someone hands you a scratch card and says 'you could win the star prize of ?????, then adds 'you've won come with us for a couple of hours blah blah blah' common sense should tell you that it is too good to be true and that you are going to get ripped off somewhere along the line. Would you happily go with someone if they told you the same story whilst you were shopping in a major city over here.You don't have to be a frequent traveller to put your brain into gear. You see it all the time; people taking in every word that the touts say and taking it as gospel.

I don't mean to sound like i'm on my high horse but let's face it Common Sense prevails and if people are stupid enough to believe every word they are being told by these touts then yes they have only got themselves to blame.

Regards Jackie

In the last trip in Dec 05, there was this one person who just would not take no for an answer. We were really polite and carried on walking but still they followed us. Rob started to get really annoyed and the only thing that prevented him from turning nasty ( apart from me of course!) was the fact that this person was female, in her 60's, quite small, and kept playing the " i am a grandma just trying to make a living " line. She was by far the worst person who has ever ever tried to flog us something. Most of the others do leave you alone if you say no. It is people like her that really irritate me. Why o why was she not enjoying retirement in the canarian sun? and if she needed to work, why not get a different job as there must be better ways to make a living than being told to **** off 50 times a day.

Thanks to all for input but as this topic comes up from time to time I'm going to lock it now.