The Spanish holiday destination that wants fewer tourists this summer
A POPULAR Spanish hotspot for Brits wants to reduce the number of tourists visiting this summer.
Despite many holiday destinations struggling during the pandemic which saw travel grind to a halt, some are hoping to avoid seeing pre-Covid tourist numbers.
The mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau has already introduced a number of restrictions to prevent more tourists visiting.
This includes a ban on new hotels in the city centre, restrictions on the number of hotel beds, and curbing plans to expand the airport.
She now wants to reduce the number of cruise ships visiting Barcelona.
She told the : "The great challenge is tourism. Barcelona is a very densely populated city, hemmed in between the mountains and the sea, with restricted space.
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"We can’t take infinite numbers of tourists. There has to be a sense of limits and order.
Barcelona's population is around 1.6million, with more than 27million tourists visiting a year.
Deputy mayor Jaume Collboni said they hoped for "quality over quantity" of tourism.
They added: "It is the beginning of the path of what we intended from the Barcelona City Council: less quantity, more collection and more spending."
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The Catalan capital was also Spain’s first large city to ban smoking on all its beaches last summer.
Sunbathers who flout the new restrictions have been warned they will be fined £25.
And it's not just Barcelona who wants fewer tourists.
Lanzarote wants "fewer Brits" and instead wants to attract French, Italian and Dutch tourists instead.
President of the Lanzarote Council, Dolores Corujo, said they're aiming to receive fewer tourists, "with greater spending in the destination so that they generate greater wealth in the economy as a whole."
The Balearic Islands, which include Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, have also said they want fewer tourists to visit.
