San Sebastián Turismo will start on 10 April with new measures to regulate the groups of tourists travelling around the city. You will accept the inclusion of the guided tour in the Public Space Ordinance so that the guided tours involve up to 25 people. This change has been agreed with the local consulting companies that undertake to respect this limitation. In addition, the hours of this guide service have been limited and guided tours can be offered from 08:00 to 23:00 hours.

Jon Insausti, councillor of the Basque Country, Culture and Tourism, and Iñigo Ansa, director of Go Local and representative of the tourism services of the DSST, today presented the new regulations in Plaza Sarriegi at a press conference. Insausti pointed out that the “quality of life of citizens” was at the heart of this strategy and stressed that it was the first Basque city to regulate noise pollution in tourist activity, since a few months ago it banned the use of the public address. In addition, San Sebastian Turismo published ten recommendations for guided tours.

“We need to be proactive in creating new opportunities and being more competitive in the tourism sector and we need to anticipate the problems to preserve the quality of life of the Donostiarras,” explains Insausti. In this case, three agents have collaborated: the City of San Sebastian, the tourism sector itself and the municipal political groups. “A few months ago a non-permanent tourism commission was set up in the City Hall of San Sebastian, which has also borne fruit. We have received the contributions from the other political groups, and I believe that governance and partnership within the city hall, with industry and with political groups have been fundamental to this regulation,” the councilor stressed.

Penalties

Last summer, San Sebastian Turismo published the ten recommendations for guided tours, among which was the limitation of the maximum size of the groups. With the current regulation, however, it will become a mandatory rule. In addition, every tourist driver undertaking wishing to make guided tours of the city's public road must carry out a formality. It is a responsible statement, which can be made online, by means of a digital certificate. In that certificate the company or driver undertakes, inter alia, not to drive equipment of more than 25 persons.

The Municipal Police Officers may request this responsible statement from the professional who is performing the guided visit, otherwise penalizing fines of 750 to 1,500 euros.

Ansa stressed that tour guides are often in a media spotlight, as if they were “the bad characters in the film”. In view of this, he pointed out that “most of us are responsible and make quality visits. In industry or in commerce there are people who do not seek quality, but in our case we seek it, introducing historical data, culture and Euskera in our discourses, for example”.

Effective from 10 April

Asked the journalists why the new rule came into force after Easter Week, Insausti replied that they would like the regulation to enter into force for Easter, but that they have made the decision with different agents and that “for a matter of time” they had to postpone it to 10 April. “Our foresight was to regulate it in the first quarter of the year, and we have done so,” Insausti said.