In popular Mediterranean resorts – in Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Portugal – the struggle for sunbeds takes on more aggressive forms in the summer. Even hot summers in Southern Europe don’t stop sun-hungry tourists from scrambling for the best poolside spots.
From the coasts of Spain to Portugal, from Greece to Turkey, the beaches and pools of the Mediterranean have been the scene of battle for the past three months. Even ordinary and respected people are faced with the need to apply more and more extreme methods. Some get up at dawn to be first in line when the pool opens. Others “reserve” sunbeds, laying down towels at night.
In May, for example, an epidemic of conflict broke out in Tenerife, as can be seen from the videos on TikTok, where the melody from the Mario Kart game symbolizes the beginning of the race. The videos show how crowds of tourists rush to the pool, some to the sunbeds, throwing things, and others throwing towels on the chairs in front of them.
Thomas Clifford, who filmed one of these videos, says: “I couldn’t believe my eyes! People were like snipers throwing towels down the stairs. I felt sorry for the employee who was trying to clean the pool when he was attacked!”
Subsequently, the contractions spread to Mallorca, where people “reserved” poolside seats a week in advance. A tourist named Gillian filmed a scandalous moment on TikTok when at 7 pm hotel guests put down towels without moving from their seats. She said, “It’s 7 pm and they’re already making reservations for the week. And they’re not moving them.” The video shows a row of towels by the pool.
Mallorca has become the epicenter of the struggle for sun loungers, where in July some tourists demonstrated a professional technique for early “reservation” of sun loungers near the pools.
One vacationer said: “To limit this absurdity, the door from the hotel to the pool was closed until 8 am. So people lined up towels at the door at night. Interestingly, these were mostly not young people, but adults.”
A few weeks later, tourists began to take sunbeds as early as 5 am. A video posted by Rebecca’s mom shows guests leaving stacks of towels on the ground to “reserve” seats hours before the pool opens.
The problem of the struggle for sunbeds remains relevant and continues to spread even to the beaches. In Benidorm, a local official warned tourists not to go ashore at night, warning that thrown towels would be cleaned up.