What is the best way to drive tourists away? Fine the hell out of them, of course! And therein lies the problem in the city of Granada.

Let’s face it, if you’re a tourist in a rent-a-car, trying to cross the city in order to see the sights – and you’ve never been in the city before in your life and have no idea of the language – how are you supposed to know that such-and-such street is a no-no on a Wednesday or it’s for taxis and buses only? You wouldn’t, of course,

But the city is littered with traffic cameras, knocking out traffic fines, so amongst your souvenirs is a nasty traffic fine – ya’ all come back now! Yer, right!

For this very reason the Granada hotel sector is demanding that the City Hall stops fining tourists.

As the subject is sensitive, let’s say, the City Hall has already set up a system whereby if a tourist receives a fine notification once back at home, he has the opportunity to ‘dodge’ the fine if he produces a hotel bill that covers the period that he was visiting the city, including the day that he was fined.

However, in practice, there are so many obstacles, such as time limits etc, that many of the said fines remain in force and have to be paid. Not good.

So, the City Hall has set up the Observatorio de la Movilidad, which is a committee whose function is to obtain feedback from professionals such as taxi drivers and hotel owners on what is the opinion of the general public on the traffic situation within the city.

Here’s hoping that they do not have a propensity to depression…

(News: Metropolitan Granada, Andalucia)