Tourists visiting the southern Spanish city of Seville may soon have to pay a fee to explore the wide, ornate Plaza de España, the city hall said, as part of plans to control tourist overload in a public open space.
“We are planning to close the Plaza de España and charge tourists to finance its conservation and ensure its safety,” the city’s mayor, José Luis Sanz, wrote on X, accompanied by a video showing missing tiles, damaged facades and street vendors occupying alcoves and stairs.
Complete with a semicircular neo-Moorish palatial structure framed with tall towers on both ends and four bridges over a moat, the plaza is part of a complex built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition that was designed to reflect Spanishness in its architecture and tiled decorations.
Thousands of people from all over the world visit the square daily, in horse-drawn carriages or on foot.
The structure served as the set of the 1999 Star Wars film The Phantom Menace, and is also a hotspot of cultural life in Seville, hosting concerts, plays and fashion shows.
Although Sanz made clear that local people would still have free access, many X users, including those from Seville, were quick to criticise the plan.
“A tourism tax for ALL visitors provokes less debate and generates more income. Listen to the people, not the hoteliers,” wrote one user. Another added: “What people want from you is a tourism tax and general regulation of mass tourism which is destroying our city.”
With more than 3 million tourists a year and a population of 700,000, Seville is the third most visited city in Spain, which in turn is one of the world’s most visited countries, with tourism representing 13% of GDP.
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Many cities are struggling to find balance between much-needed tourism and maintaining their appeal to residents. Italy’s lagoon city of Venice will introduce a trial fee from April to limit the number of day-trippers.
