The Great Spanish Holiday

Emily De Jesus
Nov 5 · 4 min read

Spain; what images come to mind at the mention of this South European country? Bullfighting (corrida de toros), Sangria and flamenco? How about the plentiful sunshine and gorgeous coasts? Perhaps for you it triggers images of poolside lounging, cheap night clubs, suitcases and sunscreen? The answer may differ reader to reader; but for the most of us Brits it’s probably the latter.

60 million Britons travel abroad each year; a third of us travel to Spain. It’s our number one overseas destination. España’s popular spots include Tennerife, Mallorca, Ibiza, and the infamous Benidorm. Mass tourism is not sustainable. It destroys the environment, erases cultural identities and languages. Locals are taught they must learn English in order to be employable. Sofia Gracia, a Spanish national living in the UK describes her thoughts; “I understand that English is one of the most spoken languages. But if you go to Spain, then at least learn the basics because it’s not fair on us to learn English. Some people don’t have any idea of English.”

Benidorm. A British Jet setters’ paradise. Once a small fishing town with just 5000 residents in 1950 now accommodates over 70,000 people. With the highest density of skyscrapers per inhabitant worldwide, Benidorm cushions its’ visitors with luxury hotels, British pubs, and nightclubs which have replaced the traditional Spanish architecture. With the town totally appropriated by tourists, locals are grieving the effects; “house price rises, the appropriation of grant aid designed to assist the indigenous population but hijacked by outside investors. The imposition of facilities that have no relevance to locals who find themselves living in virtual theme parks of strangers whose behaviour is often rude, Insensitive and born of the belief that they have paid for the right to behave in this way with their hotel fees.”

The British television show ‘Ibiza Weekender’ documents a group of British kids taking on San Antonio’s strip incredibly inebriated. British visitors can often be stereotyped by Spaniards as disrespectful drunkards, “if (they come) for the culture then it’s perfectly fine.” Garcia continues, “ but we hate when English people come and get drunk, smashing places up. They always go Magaluf and Ibiza, doing mad sh*t. There are people living in those places; The hotels and music are so loud. Old people and families go to the beach to relax. We hate it.”

I recall a vacation with my Mom in Arona: I asked: “don’t the locals here get p*ssed off with all this?” No Spanish restaurants or signs, British and Irish pubs on every corner; the burden of having to speak perfect English to work. She replied, “yeah. But it does boost their economy” she wasn’t wrong: Tourism makes up for 16% of Spain's GDP (Gross domestic product). And councils planned for Benidorm to become a tourism circus: In 1956 the First Development Plan for Benidorm was put into place: a tourism devoted town planned along the main beaches which allowed higher skyscrapers and a low habitat density; leading to locals being displaced or pressured into moving to nearby villages.

57.3 million tourists visited Spain in 2008 alone- as you can guess, tourism does benefit the Spanish economy massively, but the Spanish public don’t share such fondness for British immigrants as their government does. According to Garcia, “Benidorm is alright. Our view is that it’s cheap, that’s why tourists go there.” She then explains how Spanish people “would only go for a day. It’s known to have the busiest beaches in the country. I don’t know anywhere like Benidorm.”

Although British emigration to Spain is extremely popular today, this was not always the case; prior to 1980 air travel and holidays to exotic locations were a luxury unique to the middle upper class. Working class folk would take domestic vacations to Cornwall or the Welsh Coast- for the small few who could save up enough earnings to fly away- Benidorm had a 30% chance of being their destination of choice.

Nowadays, although the popularity of Benidorm is still booming it is now considered spoilt, tacky and dirty- full of useless tourist attractions. Learning basic Spanish, especially mannerisms and greetings, cleaning up after yourself and being respectful even when drunk- is the minimum you can do to clear your conscience. Respect your host. Imagine inviting people into your home, they treat you and your house with the same level of disrespect Brits do to these areas and their inhabitants; you’d be disgruntled too.

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