Barcelona plans to bring forward access control to beaches

The Barcelona local council is prepared to bring forward access controls on beaches if necessary.

One of the city's deputy mayors, Albert Batlle, said the area of urban ecology is already working on it.

On March 27, around 20 information agents were distributed along the coast and loudspeakers giving further information were also activated.

A service of lifeguard and first aid is already available, along with the online application enabling beach-goers to check the level of crowds.

'Traffic light' system to control crowds

The council calculates the free space available and the capacity of each beach in real-time with the use of video sensors that record the volume of people.

This information is translated into a 'traffic light' system for each beach that can be consulted on the City Council's website in real-time (along with the quality of the water) and indicates whether the occupancy level is low, medium, high, or very high.

The high season for Barcelona beaches is due to begin on May 29, and will come to an end on September 12, but controls could be set up earlier.

Face masks on beaches

This comes a day after the regulations over face masks along the coastline clarified after a U-turn of the Spanish government, who in the end proposed to only using face masks on the beach when strolling and keeping a safe distance is not possible.

This means that the protection would not be required when swimming in the sea, rivers, lakes or swimming pools – nor would it be compulsory when practicing aquatic sports or when relaxing before and after swimming, meaning when sunbathing.