Tourists heading to the Andalusia region of Spain this summer have been warned they could face delays due to a shortage of medical personnel. Andalusia, which includes the famous Costa del Sol, drew 6.9 million Britons last summer as they flocked to the area’s beaches and hospitality venues.
The reason for the potential shortage has been put down to the arrival of peak tourism season coinciding with the decision by some doctors and nurses to take their annual holiday.
As a result, local unions have warned visitors that if they are in need of medical attention, they could face delays and slightly scarcity in their care due to the lack of the implementation of contingency plans to take into consideration medical staff heading on holiday.
According to the unions, the shortage of medical personnel will become most obvious from July 1 onwards and could be so severe that doctors could have to shut afternoon clinics in some areas. Unions have claimed that up to 25 percent of hospital operations could be cut, meaning that hospitals will be operating at 75 percent of their normal rate.
Compared to last year alone, staff numbers in Andalusia down by 18 percent compared to 2024 due to a reduction in the number of people being contracted for that period.
Speaking to the i about the situation, the Satse Union’s Pepe Sánchez said the problem had been exacerbated by cuts to Andalusia’s health service since the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the year-on-year staffing reductions.
He explained: “Jellyfish stings, Legionnaires disease, and food poisoning are just some of the things which tourists come down with in the summer. But since the pandemic, some 20,000 health staff have been cut in Andalusia alone.”
This isn’t the only warning tourists travelling to Europe have been issued with the shortage of medical staff coming amid a recommencement of tourism protests across the continent.
Campaigners protesting overtourism have taken to the roads of cities in the likes of Spain, Italy, and Portugal to call for more measures to stop excessive numbers of tourists flooding their streets.
So far protests have been witnessed in Portugal’s capital Lisbon, Italy’s Venice, Palermo, Milan, Genova, and Naples as well as Spain’s Ibiza, Granada, and Palma with some protesters deploying water pistols against tourists.
Speaking to Sky about just have problematic overtourism has been to the city of Barcelona, Carmen Naranjo, 21, said they felt like their local traditions were dying and that their city was becoming “an amusement park”.
She explained: “With the rise of social media and Airbnbs, it seems like we have given up our traditions, festivities, local spots and so on in favour of mass tourism that does not properly engage with Spanish and Catalan culture and our small local businesses.
“It is not fair for the people of Barcelona to have to endure precarious salaries in hospitality in order to serve mass tourism that stays in these short-term rental apartments, pushing people out of the neighbourhoods we grew up in, as we cannot afford housing anymore.”