The new selfish holiday trend sweeping across Europe's stunning beaches is out of control – here's why UK could be next
The lure of a relaxing week on the beach is hard to resist, but across Europe, there is an ugly trend that is spoiling the picture-perfect beach scene, and it's a big problem.
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Beach Clubs, a luxury enjoyed by boujee holiday-makers on the continent, first became popular on the French Riviera in the late 1940s.
Large patches of beach are roped off and available to paying customers, often providing sun loungers, parasols, waiter service for food and drink and even showers.
But with more people travelling than ever before, the trend for beach clubs is growing, and space on the sand is shrinking.
From Spain to Turkey, Greece and Italy, swaths of sunbeds and coloured parasols are completely clogging up the beaches, leaving hardly any room to enjoy the beautiful coastline.
Most of these so-called beach clubs charge £30-£50 for the day, with the very fancy ones charging more than £1000 in some places.
It's actually grotesque.
Everyone should have the right to relax on the beach without having to pay for the privilege.
What happened to just throwing your towel down in the sand and going for a paddle or a swim?
I stayed in the UK's best B&B
The people who pay for the clubs are just as much at fault as the beach club owners.
They clearly have the money to spend and don't want to share the beach with us 'free loaders'.
It's incredibly selfish, and there needs to be a crackdown on how many clubs can exist on every beach - before a complete takeover.
And I'm not the only one, residents in Italy have been protesting the excessive number of beach clubs that exist along the country's stunning shores.
Private beach clubs, known as 'stabilimenti balneari', take up almost half of Italy's nearly 5,000 miles of coastline.
One of the problems is that owners are able to pass the businesses down through the family, meaning they will never have to move the beach club or apply to keep their pitch.
It's estimated that each club makes an average of £250,000 a year, so it's no wonder they don't want to lose their long-standing plot.
Why are beach clubs a big problem?
Holidaymakers like me are starting to lose the plot - on a trip to Abruzzo, Italy, last year, there was hardly anywhere for my kids to play.
With a tiny bit of sand left before the waves, and some curt looks from the club owners for daring to cross their boundary, there was only a tiny area for us to enjoy the beach.
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You are technically allowed to be in this part of the beach, close to the water line here, as long as you don't use the facilities that beach club members have paid for.
There was only a small corner of public beach that wasn't occupied by a private club.
But it was almost too packed to get on, grubby and with choppy waves that smashed against the cliff. Not really suitable for younger kids like mine, who are only five and eight.
It's so frustrating if you are trying to holiday as a family on a budget; these selfish holidaymakers and their beach-congesting beach clubs are pushing us out.
And it's not only happening on the continent, in France and Italy, the worrying trend is creeping onto UK beaches too.
On Bournemouth Beach, on-the-sand beach clubs have been increasing since the pandemic.
These businesses take up large areas, but have applied for the proper permissions from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.
But where does it stop?
We could end up with our beautiful UK beaches packed with parasols and fenced off to families.
The beach should be for everyone, not just those who are willing to pay.
I don't mind some businesses taking up space on the beach, especially if it's good for the local economy.
But local families and tourists who just want to enjoy the beach for a few hours, rather than pay to stay all day, should be able to access the seafront.
Next time, I will check out how busy and congested the beaches are before I book a specific area.
It's worth doing because whilst you could be saving money on accomodation in these areas, it's not worth if if you have to spend hundreds just to be on the beach.
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