How Europe’s holiday hotspots are turning their backs on British tourists – Mallorca, Lanzarote and Ibiza say “adios”, while France and Portugal do all they can to welcome British visitors

European tourist destinations are happily lining up to bring in a few extra pounds after snobbish Spanish industry bosses said adios to our money.

Earlier this month, tourism chiefs on Lanzarote – one of Spain’s Canary Islands which has long been one of Britain’s most popular holiday destinations – announced they were fed up with British tourists and were going to work together to attract more visitors from France and the Netherlands. instead of.

The comments came weeks after the tourism director of the Spanish island of Mallorca, Lucia Escribano, said her industry bosses were not interested in budget tourists from Britain – as the island tries to transform itself from a cheap booze and beach party destination by the numbers of British tourists.

Elsewhere, ‘difficult’ British tourists have been warned in a new ‘deterrent’ campaign aimed at the tourism sector to ‘avoid’ Amsterdam if they only go there for ‘drugs and alcohol’.

Sofyan Mbarki, deputy mayor of Amsterdam, defended the new message, saying: “The purpose of the disincentive campaign is to keep away visitors we don’t want. If we love the city, we must act now.”

Fortunately, the value of British tourists is clearly not lost on other European countries, where industry leaders are welcoming visitors from across the Channel with open arms.

Lanzarote (photo) welcomed more than 2.5 million visitors last year, more than half of them British

Portugal welcomes British tourists with open arms (Photo: Albufeira Beach, Algarve, Portugal)

Brits keen on budget holidays in Lanzarote, Mallorca and other classic destinations should look elsewhere given recent comments from Spanish tourism chiefs

France’s National Agency for Tourism Development said in a recent statement that the British market “is always a priority and we must work tirelessly to revive the flow of tourists to France”.

Covid is said to have been responsible for a notable absence of British tourists, who previously made up almost a fifth of all tourism to France, and has instructed industry leaders to focus on making the sector’s gems more accessible – skiing , cycling and wine tourism. Invite Brits back to French shores.

Portugal, meanwhile, has decided to soon scrap EU laws preventing British visitors from using e-passports in a bid to reduce airport queues and make arrivals easier for British holidaymakers.

At the 2022 World Travel and Tourism Council summit in the Philippines, Portuguese officials announced that they had set up passport lanes for Britons with electronic access at airports in Faro in the Algarve, Funchal in Madeira, Lisbon and Porto.

Luis Araujo, president of Portugal’s Tourism Board, said the move would help “our valued British travellers”.

“We are delighted to continue to welcome British tourists to Portugal… and we are delighted that travel to Portugal has become even smoother,” he said.

Other European travel hotspots are also looking forward to the Brits.

Speaking at the World Travel Market 2022 Expo in November, Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said more than 3 million British travelers had visited Greek shores this year and said the country was keen to attract more tourists.

“Greece continues to be a great weekend destination these months,” Kikilias said in November, adding that tour operators were adding more flights in November and praising the “special bond” between Greece and the UK.

Kizilias also stressed that Greece is keen to offer British budget travelers more than beach holidays.

He announced the launch of the ‘Greekend’ campaign to promote Greek cities – particularly Athens and Thessaloniki – to British holidaymakers as weekend destinations.

Greece’s tourism minister, Minister Vassilis Kikilias, said his country was keen to welcome more British tourists and promoted the “Greek” campaign, which aims to market Greece as a weekend destination and not just a beach holiday destination not.

Turkish tourism bosses have made no secret of increasing the number of incoming Brits (Basilica Cistern in Sarayburnu, Istanbul, Turkey)

Pictured is the Bebek neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey

Turkey’s tourism chiefs have also been open about their desire to encourage inbound Britons – after a record number of visitors from Britain in 2022.

Go Turkey, the country’s official tourism agency, has hired branding and PR consultants The PC Agency to strengthen its marketing efforts in the UK and Ireland.

READ MORE: Wish you were still welcome here? As Lanzarote DITCH UK tourists watch, a look at what we’d miss… from camel rides to black sand beaches

The Tourist Board wants to promote the country as both a city break and beach holiday destination and double down on its reputation as a “health tourism” destination thanks to cheap medical and surgical procedures.

Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism, said in November last year: “In 2022, we already had great confidence in the British market.

“These record numbers not only demonstrate the importance of the UK to Turkey, but also underline the attractiveness of our country as a year-round destination for British visitors.”

There is no doubt that British tourists will be welcomed across Europe as Lanzarote, Mallorca and other coveted sunspots insist on folding up their sunbeds.

Since neither region had made plans to cover the losses they were likely to suffer if they had double kicked the British out of their sunbeds, their “holier than thou” comments could prove very costly.

Admittedly, British tourists may not have done an injustice – stories of bad behavior on the beach, drunken bar fights and general disdain for local culture have done nothing to dispel negative stereotypes.

But there is no doubt that sterling is responsible for supporting the economy in many destinations.

Lanzarote President Dolores Corujo, pictured, is trying to reduce the island’s dependence on tourists in general, but pointed the finger at the British in particular.

Panoramic aerial view of Costa del Sol, Malaga, Spain

Lanzarote, for example, welcomed more than 2.5 million visitors last year, more than half of them British.

And visitors from the UK account for around a quarter of all tourism to Mallorca, followed by sun-loving Germans who make up around 40 per cent of visitors.

Meanwhile, a new “tourist tax” proposed by the EU that would force visitors from outside the Schengen area – including Britons – to pay €7 each to travel in Europe has drawn criticism from European tourism bosses.

Even some Spanish officials rejected the proposal, arguing that the European Union was punishing Britain for Brexit while making it harder for tourist hotspots to sustain their economies.

READ MORE: Spain warns EU proposed ‘tourist tax’ on Britons ‘poses a threat’ to their economy and British holidaymakers will look elsewhere

The tourism authority of the Costa del Sol in mainland Spain said in a statement this week: “[We are] particularly concerned about the impact of this EU tax on UK tourism, our most important emission market with 18 million arrivals in 2019.

“It must also be taken into account that the measure – if implemented – will be on top of the rest of the local taxes that tourists already pay to visit certain European cities.”

Francisco Salado, president of the provincial council of Malaga, also spoke out against the EU tax.

“Leave tourism alone!” he said at a press conference. “Tourism works very well exclusively through the sector and the relevant brokers such as Turismo Costa del Sol and Turismo Andaluz.”

He told journalists that tourism is the economic engine of Malaga and Andalusia and criticized the future tax.

“Every time we launch a product, we do it because we improve tourism quality, and imposition ultimately does not improve quality.

“The EU continues to think about how to impose new taxes on local authorities. They make laws there and we, the local councils and citizens, pay. I consider it a lack of loyalty that the local authorities are not involved in these decisions.”