UK tourists face tension in part of Spain where 'a third' are now English

A THIRD of the popular of a Spanish town is now UK expats, amid rising tension across the Canary Islands and Balearics amid a backlash against "overtourism". Orihuela is the Spanish spot with the most British residents and more than 12 per cent of Orihuela's residents are British.

In 2017, 36.2 per cent of registered Orihuela residents were foreign, while up to 1 November last year, this figure dropped to 33 per cent. Approximately 79,000 people live in Orihuela, so the figures means that just over 26,000 of them are not Spanish.

UK expats still top the list for foreign residents living in the municipality of Orihuela, with 10,000 registered with the town hall. They are followed by the Moroccans (1,875), Russians (1,354), Bulgarians (1,075) and Romanians (971).

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Responding to the stats, one said: "Many expats in Spain are fluent Spanish speakers….many others get by with learning only the language needed in their daily life. If they need to visit hospital or similar, they are required to take an interpreter along with them.

"Pity the non English speakers living in enclaves in the UK aren’t required to take an interpreter to hospitals etc. similarly." "Why is it ok for British expats to go to Spain and create enclaves of English speaking areas where the local language is spoken very little or badly?" another asked.

"Isn’t not being able to speak English and lack of integration our main criticism of migrants coming here?" a second said. A third said: "We have lived in spain for 24 years, but not on the costas, so speaking spanish is a must as well as reading and writing other wise you can mske the wrong choices when it comes to bills, day to day living.

"I have come across a person who said if they want my money then they speak my language how wrong. A lot of Brits do not learn spanish because were they live they have no need to."