Menorca proposes 'ban' on UK tourists after number of visitors 'rockets'

A Menorca village has threatened to close to tourists after an explosion in numbers. Binibeca Vell residents say officials have left them to grapple alone with noise and rubbish from stampede of visitors with UK tourists now facing a ban.

“The problem isn’t tourists,” said Óscar Monge, who heads the group representing Binibeca Vell’s 195 property owners. “Binibeca Vell is not a place of adventure, but it’s a private housing development where people reside,” Monge added.

The number of visitors has rocketed to about 800,000 a year, with most of them arriving between May and October. “If the administration continues to leave us abandoned, in August we’ll carry out a vote among owners on whether we should close up the development,” he said.

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Speaking to the news website ElDiario.es last month, one resident said: “They went into homes, they sat on chairs, they take things, climb on our walls, they have outdoor drinking parties. If this isn’t regulated, it will happen every summer.”

“We’re going with very little hope, to be honest,” he told the Guardian newspaper. The head of tourism for the Menorcan government, Begoña Mercadal, told Eldiario.es: “We fully acknowledge that it is private property and, therefore, if they want to close it, that is their right."

“Of course it’s a difficult decision but we’re being pushed into it,” he said. “From the coast you would still be able to visit the perimeter of the village, but you wouldn’t be able to enter the interior lanes,” he added. “And that’s the charming photo that everyone wants for Instagram.”

Binibeca stretches 3 km along the coast and includes the original ‘Binibeca Vell', or older portion, as well as Binibeca 'Nou', which is described as a "natural progression with many of the homes and villas in keeping with the original design." At the very eastern point of Binibeca you will also find Cala Torret, a small village which feels separate but is actually part of it.