The Spanish city wants to ban the opening of new hotels – and that will make your vacation more expensive

A POPULAR Spanish hotspot for Brits wants to ban new hotels from opening in a bid to reduce tourist numbers.

Hotel prices in San Sebastian could become more expensive.

2

According to the local newspaper La NacionSan Sebastián, a Spanish resort in the Bay of Biscay, wants to prevent the opening of new hotels and tourist apartments.

Earlier this year, the city’s mayor, Eneko Goia, said: “The supply of tourist accommodation is sufficient and it is time to limit the opening of new businesses.”

At the same time, the city council announced its intention to implement a series of measures aimed at limiting the opening of new tourism businesses in San Sebastián.

As part of these measures, Mr Goia plans to declare parts of the city “saturated” to promote sustainable tourism.

There are 9.91 tourists for every 100 residents of the city.

A preliminary report called the General Urban Planning Plan outlined the negative impact vacationers have had on the city in recent years.

According to the report prepared by the council, tourists have a negative impact on the city’s gastronomy, culture and economy.

In addition to the report, anti-tourism graffiti has also appeared across the city.

The messages urging tourists to “go home” were allegedly written on monuments and bridges.

Despite the proposed action against tourism companies, the proposed measures do not constitute a ban on holidaymakers.

Instead, the council wants holidaymakers and residents to be able to “coexist” in the city.

The proposed measures have already been welcomed by a tour operator in the port city.

The manager of the San Sebastián Apartments, Mr. Iñigo Etxebeste, said this Daily Express: “For existing hotels that already have their customers, this move means that new potential competitors will no longer be able to operate and therefore all incoming tourists will have to stay in these existing hotels.”

“Therefore, I expect hotels to achieve even higher occupancy and even higher nightly prices due to increased demand and unchanged supply in the market.”

A proposal for the new measures is expected to be presented in 2024.

Other parts of Spain are also trying to reduce tourism numbers.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has already introduced a series of restrictions to prevent more tourists from visiting.

These include a ban on new hotels in the city center, restrictions on the number of hotel beds and curbing plans to expand the airport.

She now wants to reduce the number of cruise ships calling at Barcelona.

Lanzarote wants to attract “fewer Brits” and instead attract French, Italian and Dutch tourists.

The president of the Lanzarote Council, Dolores Corujo, said they were aiming to welcome fewer tourists “through increased spending in the destination so that they create more wealth in the economy overall.”

The Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, have also announced that they want fewer tourists to visit.

2