Barcelona wants to prevent badly behaved tourists from evading fines
Only a third of fines given to tourists in Barcelona are ever paid. Now the city council is looking for ways to stop badly behaved holidaymakers evading penalties when they leave the country.
Authorities in Barcelona are searching for ways to prevent tourists fined for bad behaviour on holiday escaping without paying their fines.
Unless tourists pays a reduced rate up front (known as 'pago pronto') to one of Barcelona's Urban Police officers, something that is not obligatory and almost impossible to enforce, it is essentially impossible to force a foreign visitor to pay a fine as a lack of international agreement prevents the fine being collected or chased up once they return to their country.
However, municipal sources have confirmed to Spanish newspaper El Periódico that the Barcelona Municipal Treasury Institute is now putting together a plan to implement several different notification systems and forced fine payment collection, although they prefer not to give more concrete information as of yet.
The Barcelona regional government, led by Jaume Collboni (PSC), has made public order and safety a hallmark of its start to office and even floated plans to toughen the city's civil ordinance rules, but has not made any specific mention of how it would deal with difficulty in collecting tourist fines abroad.
The payment loophole only applies to tourists, however. Fines for people living in Catalonia or the rest of Spain are almost always collected.
Normally, those registered in Catalonia who do not voluntarily pay their fine can have the amount seized from their bank account.
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This is usually done by the town council itself for locals while Spaniards from elsewhere in the country have it taken by Catalonia’s tax body thanks to a collaboration agreement signed between both administrations.
Yet the vast majority of tourists fined for uncivil behaviour in Barcelona either refuse to pay or leave the country knowing the town hall is powerless to pursue payment. Local councillor Marc Serra states that “only a third of the fines are charged to visitors and the vast majority of these are thanks to prompt payment.”
Barcelona city centre has long suffered from antisocial and drunken behaviour, noise pollution, drug consumption, and public urination by tourists.
A pilot scheme began in Barcelona in 2022 aimed at reducing public nuisance and disorder among tourists, especially in nightlife areas of the city.
It is based on a previous pilot in Platja d'Aro that managed to reduce incidents of antisocial behaviour, noise or alcohol consumption in the street by 80 percent.
Xavier Pastor, director of the Chair of Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Digital Transformation at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and the man who headed the Platja d'Aro scheme, says: “Currently, Barcelona has nightlife mediation services that work with people who come on holiday and go out to party in nightlife areas.”
READ ALSO: What are the penalties for getting into a physical fight in Spain?
“To avoid and redirect antisocial behaviour," Pastor says, “it is essential that the staff at the premises and facilities that welcome these people inform and remind them of the rules of coexistence and redirect this behaviour on entry, such as the staff of hotels and nightlife venues. Uncivil and antisocial behaviour occurs in areas where there are nightlife venues, when foreigners leave and return to hotels and hostels".
Soon, if Barcelona authorities move forward with its plans, these sorts of offences will be finable - whether in Barcelona or abroad, when the tourists arrive home.
The Catalan capital's relationship with tourism has become increasingly strained over the past decade, with locals expressing their disdain by graffitiing "Tourists go home" on walls as well as authorities restricting access to certain areas to stop tourist parties and limiting the amount of holiday rentals.
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Authorities in Barcelona are searching for ways to prevent tourists fined for bad behaviour on holiday escaping without paying their fines.
Unless tourists pays a reduced rate up front (known as 'pago pronto') to one of Barcelona's Urban Police officers, something that is not obligatory and almost impossible to enforce, it is essentially impossible to force a foreign visitor to pay a fine as a lack of international agreement prevents the fine being collected or chased up once they return to their country.
However, municipal sources have confirmed to Spanish newspaper El Periódico that the Barcelona Municipal Treasury Institute is now putting together a plan to implement several different notification systems and forced fine payment collection, although they prefer not to give more concrete information as of yet.
The Barcelona regional government, led by Jaume Collboni (PSC), has made public order and safety a hallmark of its start to office and even floated plans to toughen the city's civil ordinance rules, but has not made any specific mention of how it would deal with difficulty in collecting tourist fines abroad.
The payment loophole only applies to tourists, however. Fines for people living in Catalonia or the rest of Spain are almost always collected.
Normally, those registered in Catalonia who do not voluntarily pay their fine can have the amount seized from their bank account.
READ ALSO: What are the penalties for drug possession in Spain?
This is usually done by the town council itself for locals while Spaniards from elsewhere in the country have it taken by Catalonia’s tax body thanks to a collaboration agreement signed between both administrations.
Yet the vast majority of tourists fined for uncivil behaviour in Barcelona either refuse to pay or leave the country knowing the town hall is powerless to pursue payment. Local councillor Marc Serra states that “only a third of the fines are charged to visitors and the vast majority of these are thanks to prompt payment.”
Barcelona city centre has long suffered from antisocial and drunken behaviour, noise pollution, drug consumption, and public urination by tourists.
A pilot scheme began in Barcelona in 2022 aimed at reducing public nuisance and disorder among tourists, especially in nightlife areas of the city.
It is based on a previous pilot in Platja d'Aro that managed to reduce incidents of antisocial behaviour, noise or alcohol consumption in the street by 80 percent.
Xavier Pastor, director of the Chair of Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Digital Transformation at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and the man who headed the Platja d'Aro scheme, says: “Currently, Barcelona has nightlife mediation services that work with people who come on holiday and go out to party in nightlife areas.”
READ ALSO: What are the penalties for getting into a physical fight in Spain?
“To avoid and redirect antisocial behaviour," Pastor says, “it is essential that the staff at the premises and facilities that welcome these people inform and remind them of the rules of coexistence and redirect this behaviour on entry, such as the staff of hotels and nightlife venues. Uncivil and antisocial behaviour occurs in areas where there are nightlife venues, when foreigners leave and return to hotels and hostels".
Soon, if Barcelona authorities move forward with its plans, these sorts of offences will be finable - whether in Barcelona or abroad, when the tourists arrive home.
The Catalan capital's relationship with tourism has become increasingly strained over the past decade, with locals expressing their disdain by graffitiing "Tourists go home" on walls as well as authorities restricting access to certain areas to stop tourist parties and limiting the amount of holiday rentals.
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