Cheek By Towel: Spain's Beaches Feel the Squeeze

The battle for summer space on Spanish beaches has never been hotter, according to a new report that shows there is barely room for each tourist to spread a towel in some resorts.

Two-thirds of Spanish beach resorts studied by the country’s Exceltur hoteliers’ organization were no longer able to provide more than the EU-recommended minimum of six square meters per sunbather, El País newspaper reported yesterday. That means summer sunbathers who stretch their arms out wide may find themselves holding hands with the person next to them.

A report by the hoteliers’ organization, based on interviews with thousands of tourists in the most popular Spanish resorts, said quality tourism would require each visitor to be given several times more space than they currently have.

The report was gloomy about the future of the traditional, hotel-based Spanish tourism industry, which is under threat from a massive boom in the number of self-owned holiday homes being built along the costas.

Budget airlines and self-booked villas are also a threat to the traditional package tour that has fuelled four decades of Spanish tourism growth.

The hoteliers have become the unlikely allies of a small but growing protest movement led by environmentalists who think plans to build hundreds of thousands of new holiday homes could ruin the coastline. Their report warned that if all the proposed building work was carried out the costas would see their peak summer numbers triple to 40 million people.

"That will triple consumption of water and energy," the hoteliers warned.

It would also make some resorts as densely packed as Spain’s busiest cities. "Continuing this rhythm of growth could see a good part of Spain’s resorts turned into built-up zones," the report warned.

Hoteliers worry that new building will pack beaches even further, while still leaving empty rooms in their hotels.

Resorts were growing despite the shrinking beach space available to their visitors, and without planning for future needs, the report said.