The southern Spanish city of Marbella adored by British tourists is introducing a new to combat rude holidaymakers who urinate in the sea.
The new fine of £634 (€750) is set to be rolled out on 25 beaches in the area after the city’s council approved the plans on June 21.
The new fine is double that of a previous law which saw tourists fined £254 (€300) introduced twenty years ago in 2004.
Following the announcement of the new law, there is some consternation over how the authorities will identify tourists guilty of “physiological evacuation”.
Marbella’s new law against “physiological evacuation” isn’t the only place in Spain where British tourists could be fined for urinating in the sea.
The northern Spanish city of Vigo has a similar law which sees those found guilty facing a fine of up to £640.
Furthermore, urinating in the ocean isn’t the only way Britons could be fined in Spain this summer as thousands travel to Europe at a time when tensions between tourists and towns are rising.
Another law, this time €200, could see tourists fined for buying a ‘fake’ handbag on the beach during the summer as part of an attempt to remove unlicensed street sellers from tourist areas.
As well as fighting unlicensed street sellers, tensions are growing between towns and tourists with the former trying to find ways to deal with growing numbers of the latter.
One proposal suggested by those living on the iconic island of Majorca has been the introduction of a flight ban.
Earlier this year on May 20, politician Ferran Rosa suggested a reduction in the number of flights landing at the island’s airports. Rosa said: “Majorca is no longer overcrowded, Mayorca is experiencing collapse. You cannot have airports that, year after year, break records.”
Rosa’s party Més subsequently presented a motion to the Balearic parliament proposing that the Spanish government reduce the number of flights. They said: “Having the keys to the entrance and exit doors of our house is essential.”
The motion was subsequently rejected, but the fear is that tensions will continue to escalate in the region as the summer goes on.