Javea Grapevine Issue 176 - LARGE FONT EDITION | Page 44

length), known as microplastics. The study
found more than 80%
of plastic items in the
Mediterranean Sea
fell into this category.
“These very small
plastic fragments lend
themselves to being
swallowed by marine
species, potentially
releasing chemicals
into the gut from the
plastics,” Dr Morritt,
of the School of Biological Sciences, told
BBC News. “Plastic
doesn’t degrade in
the environment - we
need to think much
more carefully about
how we dispose of it,
recycle it, and reduce
our use of it.” for full
story see: BBC news
Barcelona - a Victim
of its Tourism success? According to
government figures,
between 1990 and
2013 the number of
annual visitors who
stayed overnight in

Barcelona exploded
from 1.7 million to 7.6
million, and the number of hotel rooms
grew from 10,265 to
37,069.
Today, tourism accounts for about 14%
of Barcelona’s economy…
In this compact city of
1.6 million residents,
the tourist impact is
impossible to miss.
Today, 79% of the
people on La Rambla,
the main avenue in the
Ciutat Vella, are not
from Barcelona; 58%
are foreign tourists.
Packs of bachelor and
bachelorette parties
from around Europe
stumble through the
Ciutat Vella at night,
regularly vomiting in
the streets and hiring
prostitutes…
Barcelona is not
alone, and the struggle of European cities
has even spawned
a subgenre of documentaries bemoan-

ing mass tourism.
Barcelona has Bye
Bye Barcelona, a
film by Venezuelan
filmmaker Eduardo
Chibás that has received over 300,000
YouTube views; Berlin has Welcome and
Goodbye; and Venice
has The Venice Syndrome.
(One common feature of the
genre?
The irritating sound of
squads of roller bags
clicking over cobblestones.) For full story
see: Fortune
Easter Tourism - was
steady as she goes
Almost half the tourists to the Valencian
Community
come
during the 4 summer
mont