Spain tourism ALERT: Britons to face ‘terrifying effects’ at Spanish airports

Spanish unions are planning 25 separate 24-hour strikes in the country’s airports, a move which would lead to travel chaos. 

José Luis Zoreda of ‘s tourism association Exceltur said tourists would face atrocious scenes if the strikes go ahead. 

He warned the situation will be “terrifying, undesirable and perfectly rectifiable”. 

Mr Zoreda added strikes at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport earlier this year had been a “test” which led to “tensions”. 

The proposed strikes, which are being weighed up by airport operators Aena and Enaire, would lead to delays, cancellations, reductions in safety standard and a lack of management, he said. 

Mr Zoreda said this would have an “international impact that would not in any way favour” Spanish tourism.

The unions have planned strikes on September 15, 17, 22, 24 and 29, October 1, 6, 11, 15, 27, 30, 31, November 3 and 5 and December 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30.

The planned strikes come after a wave of anti-tourist protests and new regulations swept Spain this month. 

In Barcelona, angry residents descended on a beach armed with banners and placards designed to intimidate tourists who they claim are taking over the city.

The city’s mayor, Ada Colau, has put a moratorium on new hotels and holiday apartment licenses, which forced Airbnb to withdraw thousands of unlicensed flats from its website.

Meanwhile, the number of beds sold to tourists will now be capped at a combined 623,624 on the popular Spanish islands of Mallorca and Ibiza as boozy British groups are accused of causing mayhem around coastal towns.

New plans will cut that number to 120,000 over the next few years and 70 per cent of the beds assigned will be in Mallorca.

Hooded protestors also vandalised the Basque country tourist board’s headquarters in Bilbao last week, covering it in bright red paint and anti-tourism slogans – while furious Barcelona residents descended on a local beach at the weekend, armed with banners and placards designed to intimidate tourists who they claim are taking over the city.

Radicals carrying flare guns were seen targeting diners at a Marina restaurant in Palma, screaming “go home” and a number of public spaces have also been defaced with stickers carrying the slogans “tourism kills the city” and “tourists go home”.