Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
A TINY Balearic village with just 205 residents is being swamped by over 55,000 foreign tourists each summer – making it one of the most overwhelmed destinations in Spain.
According to new statistics from Spain’s National Statistics Institute, Escorca, Mallorca, has 272 tourists for every local resident during peak season. One in five of these tourists is Italian.
The mobile phone tracking figures reveal that popular destinations for expats and holidays are struggling under the mass tourism.
The pressure is greatest on the islands and coastal areas that are popular with foreigners.
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On the Costa Brava, Lloret de Mar – home to 42,000 residents – welcomed nearly half a million foreign tourists last summer alone.
Girona is popular with French visitors and only an hour away from the border. It illustrates the crisis of Mediterranean coastal towns.
“You collect tax for 44,000 residents, but you provide service to a million-and-a-half people,” explains Elizabeth Keegan of Lloret tourism.
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“The effort is enormous, in terms of cleanliness, security, and lifeguarding.”
She claims that the town has 50,000 rooms to accommodate the influx of tourists, but acknowledges that the strain on the infrastructure has been building over the past six decades.
Many similar destinations do not have the resources necessary to cope.
The Balearics top the list of destinations that are most crowded with international visitors.
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Alcúdia topped the charts among Spain’s certified ‘most beautiful villages’, attracting over 430,000 foreign tourists between June and September – a staggering number for a small town setting.
Meanwhile, on the Valencia coast, Peñíscola in Castellón proved a magnet for both Spanish and foreign visitors, welcoming nearly 290,000 domestic tourists alongside 46,000 internationals.
The medieval fortress, perched dramatically on an outcrop of rocky rock, has become a symbol for Spain’s tourism growth.
According to the data, foreign visitors are overwhelmingly attracted to Spain’s coastal regions and major cities.
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Barcelona is still the only destination in the world where the number of international tourists exceeds the local population. During the summer, foreign tourists outnumber residents by over one million.
Even in Madrid, which welcomed 3.6 million Spanish visitors, international arrivals reached 2.2 million – putting enormous pressure on the capital’s infrastructure and services.
Research reveals an uncomfortable truth about Spain’s tourism success.
Visitors to destinations are not only a vital economic benefit for the community, but they also place a huge strain on infrastructure that was never intended for such a large seasonal invasion.
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The annual summer rush means overcrowded streets, long restaurant lines, and stretched public services for expats who live in these high-pressure locations.
Between June and September, what was once a tranquil coastal retreat or charming hideaway island becomes a bustling mass of people.
The question now facing Spanish authorities is whether popular destinations can adapt their infrastructure fast enough to handle the relentless growth – or whether some form of visitor caps will become inevitable to preserve the very charm that attracts tourists in the first place.
The Olive Press Travel News is available here.
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