A picturesque Spanish village, often compared to Mykonos, is on the brink of banning tourists outright as its less than 200 full-time residents have had enough. Charming fishing village Binibeca Vell, located on Menorca’s southern tip, voted in May to close its streets to visitors between 8pm and 11am.
However, in a turn of events, the hotspot’s residents are now considering a referendum to permanently ban tourists, keeping them out of their quaint cobblestone lanes and whitewashed houses. Though the area only has 195 homeowners, the village attracts more than 800,000 visitors annually, averaging more than 2,000 visitors daily.
Locals have long voiced their frustrations about boisterous holidaymakers who flood Binibeca Vell during the summer months, disrupting their tranquility for the sake of a holiday photo. Exasperated residents have resorted to posting pictures of tourists disrespecting their private properties, with one image showing a tourist sprawled across a stairwell and another climbing a balcony.
The village’s website implores visitors to “avoid uncivil attitudes” by not “entering the houses or climbing stairs or balconies”. It also urges people to help maintain the village’s cleanliness by “using the bins and keeping the walls white”.
However, not everyone in Binibeca Vell wants to see the back of tourists. Oscar Monge, President of the Community of Property Owners in Binibeca Vell, has maintained that tourists are welcome and the new rules are not intended to ruin anyone’s livelihood, reports the Express. Residents are furious at the Spanish authorities who they say have failed to tackle the issues with tourists bothering locals.
The government gave the residents of Binibeca Vell £12,850 last year to help with rubbish removal but the deal has not been renewed this year. Residents would be within their rights to close off the village to tourists, head of tourism for Menorca Begoña Mercadal told El Diario. “We fully acknowledge that it is private property and, therefore, if they want to close it, that is their right,” she said.
Earlier this year, residents in the whitewashed town of Binibeca Vell blocked off some of their labyrinthine streets which have earned it the title of the “Mykonos of Spain”. Locals claim the small, cobbled streets have been flooded with tourists intruding on their private properties vying for the perfect holiday snap. Some claim rowdy tourists have even scaled balconies and entered their doorways. Thick ropes and chains with ‘no pedestrians’ signs were strung across some streets in a bid to keep out non-residents between 8pm and 11am.