Sex-crazed tourists looking for encounters in a rare natural habitat in the Canary Islands have sparked a crackdown by local authorities.
Authorities on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria have targeted swingers in sand dunes – among them a high proportion of Britons – as part of a new initiative launched this week to protect a nature reserve.
The small island off the northwest coast of Africa, part of the Canary archipelago and a favorite destination for sun-seeking Brits, has handed out record fines to outdoor sex tourists since this practice became popular after the pandemic.
And this week, authorities vowed to get extra tough on visitors who break the law by having sex in the dunes, which can cause damage to this beautiful yet fragile ecosystem.
A local government official was quoted by Spanish-language media as saying, as authorities began developing a plan to end all outdoor sex: “Since the end of the pandemic, people are gone crazy. »
Authorities on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria have targeted swingers in sand dunes – among them a high proportion of Britons – as part of a new initiative launched this week to protect a nature reserve.
Authorities have vowed to get tough on visitors who break the law by having sex in the dunes, which can cause damage to this beautiful but fragile ecosystem.
Research by Professor Patrick Hesp, of Flinders University in Australia, has discovered an astonishing number of almost 300 ‘cruising hotspots’ in the 1,000-acre Maspalomas Dunes Nature Reserve, in the tourist town of Playa del Ingles in Maspalomas, south of Gran Canaria.
The dunes – a major tourist attraction – are home to unique plant and animal species, and shrubs help anchor the constantly moving sands and prevent them from spilling into the nearby Atlantic Ocean.
But it is warned that tourists eager to strip to have sex with strangers in the bushes not only damage plant life, but scare away birds and lizards and leave behind piles of beer cans, cigarette butts cigarettes and used condoms.
As wildfires rage across the neighboring island of Tenerife, destroying thousands of acres of forested areas, smoking in the tinder and tinder dunes also poses a fire threat.
Measures to control crowds of visitors to the dunes were put in place in 2000, with environmental officers patrolling the area and issuing fines of around €150 to anyone caught straying beyond the demarcated areas.
But this year, as tourism increases after two years of covid-related travel restrictions, the number of fines has increased sixfold to 120 from just 20 in 2022, local authorities said.
Tourists and foreign residents of Playa del Ingles manage to outsmart environmental agents by informing each other about where and when they see them and what time they leave the area, according to posts by groups sexual on Facebook.
Some believe it is “safe” to go to the dunes for casual sex after 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., when officers on patrol have finished their day. Members advise each other on which parts of the protected area to visit for sex, as some are designated as singles-only places while others are for swingers – couples who exchange partners or have sex together or with single women and men.
Tourists and foreign residents of Playa del Ingles manage to outsmart environmental agents by informing each other about where and when they see them and what time they leave the area, according to posts by groups sexual on Facebook.
Some advise that it is “safe” to go to the dunes for casual sex after 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m., when officers on patrol have finished their day.
Playa del Ingles has a large number of swingers clubs and a few swingers resorts, which are also clothing optional, and is a major destination for British, German and French couples who favor the swinger lifestyle.
Now authorities are planning to get tougher on errant and womanizing tourists who flout the law and destroy an area of untouched natural beauty. Their goal, said Gran Canaria Environment Minister Raul Garcia Brink, is to introduce new technologies such as motion detectors that will alert them to otherwise clandestine activities of people in prohibited areas.
“The objective is to use new technologies to have precise knowledge of the flow of people in the areas,” he said in a statement.
Dune sex has so far “seen a significant recovery in 2023, far surpassing data collected in previous years, possibly due to the pandemic”, he added.
LED screens warning people to stay on official paths around the protected area and head to a nearby nudist beach if they wish to undress will be erected, he said.
Despite the crackdown, people are already trying to find new ways to access the dunes for outdoor fun.
“Seems like they are imposing more fines for trespassing off designated trails in the dunes,” one man wrote in a dunes Facebook group Monday. Another advised: “There are many good places you are allowed to stay. Especially near the nudist area of Playa del Ingles. The protected areas are near the Meloneras side.
