MADRID – Wide white beaches and roaring sea breezes have made Tarifa a mecca for British windsurfers, but locals working in the tourism industry can’t even afford a mattress to sleep on.
Located at the southernmost tip of Spain, just nine miles across the Mediterranean from Morocco, Tarifa attracts many tourists in the summer.
A survey by hotel rental company Holidu.es shows that this Andalusian town of 18,000 people welcomes 117,000 tourists every year, or more than six tourists for every local.
However, like many other towns in Spain, hotel, restaurant staff and especially windsurfing or kitesurfing teachers in Tarifa struggle to afford accommodation.
Deborah Powell, a British translator who lives near Puerto Santa Maria, said a windsurfing instructor friend of hers tried to find accommodation without success.
“The only thing he could find was a mattress on the balcony for 700 euros a month, so he gave up and returned to France. They also rented out bunk beds in the warehouse at a high price,” she told I.
“There is a shortage of staff because the population of these towns triples in the summer. The rents are extortionate. A lot of people used to live in camper vans.”
Ms Powell, who is from Wyre Forest in Worcestershire but now holds Spanish citizenship, said authorities were overwhelmed by the level of tourism.
Tarifa Mayor José Antonio Santos said the town did not have the infrastructure to support the large number of holidaymakers.
“We don’t have the infrastructure to attract tourists on weekends or in the summer,” he told us I.
According to the Andalusian regional government, Tarifa has 24,013 rental accommodation beds, more than half of which are in hotels or holiday rentals including Airbnb.
Hotel owners complain that many locals rent apartments to tourists at inflated prices as part of a growing, unregulated industry.
“Many non-professionals are taking advantage of the surge in tourists and putting their properties on the market at exorbitant prices, but this attracts tourists we don’t want,” said hotel director Susana Meynet. Tarifa Lance Tell I.
The situation becomes more complicated in Tarifa during the summer, as the roads are crowded with thousands of Moroccans traveling home by ferry from the town or through the nearby port of Algeciras.
Roads are so congested that workers living in nearby villages take hours to get to Tarifa for work.
José Pacheco, the Spanish government representative in Cadiz, warned people last July to avoid going to Tarifa beaches “due to severe traffic congestion”.
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