UK tourists in Spain have faced fines in a new shopping crackdown at a popular holiday spot. Police are going undercover in the Costa Brava and targetting Brits abroad for their spring and summer holidays, as it a clamps down and cracks down on illegal street sellers.
The sellers flog everything from trainers and sunglasses to fake ‘designer’ handbags and watches. Tourists buying products from unlicensed ‘manteros’ will be slapped with an immediate fine of up to €200 which works out at around £170.
The mayor of Torrevieja has called for more police officers during the summer to enforce the new rules. The warnings of fines for cheap souvenirs from street sellers comes amid a tide of rising tension in Spain, with protests breaking out over “overtourism” amid a lack of affordable housing for locals.
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Responding to the crackdown, a Brit said: “Spain need to take the problem off the streets and off the beaches, most people who go on holiday don’t want pestered by the “looky looky sellers” if they weren’t there peddling their goods, no tourist would buy from them.
“The problem is not the tourist, it’s SPAIN’S and to be honest when you know you’re not welcome in a country, why would you go and spend your hard earned money there, you’d go to a destination that was happy to see you and what your spending brings to their economy.
“The problem now with Spain, Ibiza and Tenerife is because for decades they have all encouraged excess cheap drink resulting in wild outrageous behaviour from mainly young tourists that they have profited handsomely from but now they’ve had enough.”
“Sellers line the promenades in Torrevieja and neighbouring Guardamar, blatantly displaying their “designer” wares – where their income goes is anyone’s guess. How is anyone to know whether they have a licence or not? But rather than fine an “unsuspecting” buyer, maybe the laws regarding unlicensed vendors should be enforced. Or is that too difficult? Treat the cause rather than the symptom …” a second said.
A third fumed: “Typical Spanish mentality of fining the buyers not the sellers. At this rate there will be no tourists in Spain and the tourism industry will be begging for our return.” A fourth said: “Don’t holiday there. I never go where I’m not wanted, going to be ripped off, berated, used as a cash cow, etc. My money has the same value in other places.”