Chiringuito owners in Andalucía are threatening to instigate a novel protest if they do not get a solution to the ‘problem’ within the next fifteen days. They are going to build a chiringuito outside the Ministry of Environment office in Madrid and start making espetas de sardinas – sardines on a stick – and other typical products.
The president of the Asociación de Chiringuitos de la Costa Tropical, Francisco Trujillo, acknowledged the support they have been receiving from the business sector of the opposition Partido Popular. The spokesman for the Environment in Congress, Carlos Floreana, met with representatives of the 52 bars in Granada.
Floriana is asking the government not to change something that works and that the bars should remain since there have not actually been any changes to the Act, introduced in 1988, and most of the bars were built before this time. He proposes that the bars be allowed to remain on the sands of the various beaches.
Floriana added that the chiringuitos employ some 40,000 people, 600 in Granada province, and the turnover last year was €600 million. He believes that the bars are an essential part of coastal life and play an important role in tourism, one of the main sources of income for the Spanish coastal regions.
At the moment, chiringuito owners are reluctant to invest money in their businesses due to the uncertainty about their future existence.
Antonio says:
The recent demolition of the beach bar in Chipiona has no doubt made the owners of other chiringuitos nervous. Along the coast west of Malaga in locations such as La Herradura and neighbouring Nerja the beaches are not littered with chiringuitos and those that there are are well established and inkeeping with the area. Most importantly they add character and provide a convenient location to go for lunch without any obviously serious negative impact to the environment. I do know an owner of a chiringuito and he like the others does not know what the future holds and particuarly in these difficult economic times he will not invest more in the property.
Nerja does have the added problem of the market relocation which is upsetting many regular visitors, losing the beach bars is just another sign that those who make decisions really do not know what they are doing (much like in the UK I suppose!). These seaside towns must come to recogise that hotel guests and people who stay in rental villas and apartments contribute a lot to the local economy and if they discourage them (even indirectly) how will they replace the money that they spend when they come to Nerja for their holidays?
Antonio says:
The recent demolition of the beach bar in Chipiona has no doubt made the owners of other chiringuitos nervous. Along the coast west of Malaga in locations such as La Herradura and neighbouring Nerja the beaches are not littered with chiringuitos and those that there are are well established and inkeeping with the area. Most importantly they add character and provide a convenient location to go for lunch without any obviously serious negative impact to the environment. I do know an owner of a chiringuito and he like the others does not know what the future holds and particuarly in these difficult economic times he will not invest more in the property.
Nerja does have the added problem of the market relocation which is upsetting many regular visitors, losing the beach bars is just another sign that those who make decisions really do not know what they are doing (much like in the UK I suppose!). These seaside towns must come to recogise that hotel guests and people who stay in rental villas and apartments contribute a lot to the local economy and if they discourage them (even indirectly) how will they replace the money that they spend when they come to Nerja for their holidays?