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Spanish town tells tourists to leave if they can’t “handle the risks” of rural life

A poster campaign in the town of Ribadesella warns tourists of ringing church bells, crowing roosters and tractors, and says they "may not be in the right place" if they can't put up with them.

Published: 22 August 2021 11:36 CEST

Spanish town tells tourists to leave if they can't

Tourists in the northern Spanish town of Ribadesella complained about braying donkeys, roosters waking them up at 5am and cow mess being left on the streetsPhoto by MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP

After receiving several complaints from tourists, officials in the northern Spanish village of Ribadesella decided to take action. The city council launched a poster campaign warning urbanites of the “risks” of rural life.

“Here we have church bells that ring regularly, roosters that crow early and herds that live nearby and even wear cowbells that also make noise. If you can’t put up with this, you may not be in the right place,” read the posters around the village.

spanish village tells tourists to leave if they can't handle the risks

Ribadesella, a town with a population of 5,700 in Asturias, had received complaints from tourists about braying donkeys, crowing roosters cow mess being left on the streets.

“Last week a woman called three or four times about a rooster waking her up at 5am, and said we had to do something about it,” the mayor of Ribadesella, Ramón Canal, told Spanish broadcaster Antena 3.

He said the poster campaign aimed to educate visitors about the reality of life in rural towns. “They need to realise that milk doesn’t come from cartons, they come from cows. And they need to be fed and maintained,” he added.

READ ALSO: Ten of Spain’s most charming seaside towns

The posters, however, also welcome visitors who can embrace Ribadesella’s charm. A paragraph at the bottom of the poster adds: “If on the other hand you are one of the privileged few who can handle this, you will enjoy this marvellous environment and the excellent products made by our fantastic farmers and artisans, who will be delighted to offer the best selection of products from our land. Enjoy Ribadesella!

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Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate).

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average.

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal.

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun.

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring.

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022.

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices.

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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