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Street hawking takes over the seafront promenades of much of the Costa del Sol in both winter and summer, although it is when the high season arrives that the atmosphere becomes even more tense than usual. For years, traders in Benalmádena have been denouncing the practice, saying that it generates losses of 20-30% for their businesses.
Police officers have tried to rid the worst areas of illegal street vendors, but the latter return once the authorities have left. For that reason, traders tried to sit down with the Senegalese community, to which many of the vendors belong, and discuss a favourable solution for both sides.
This happened two years ago with a project launched by the association of traders and business owners of Benalmádena (ACEB). The objective was to put in contact companies that were looking for workers with vendors who were looking for a job. That way, they hoped, street vendors could find proper jobs and leave the promenade. However, the project did not give the expected result, because those interested in a job (of which there were many) first had to go through a series of training and language courses before starting to work. Many of them did not participate in those programmes, pressured by the urgent need to earn a living and feed their families, whether in Spain or back in their home country.
Now the ACEB is seeking a new approach in its fight to put an end to the entrenched problem of the so-called 'top manta' (street hawking). The new idea that the ACEB has presented to the town hall is to start sanctioning buyers as well. This measure is already implemented in some other municipalities throughout Spain, but it has not been approved in Benalmádena yet.
"There are so many street vendors on the promenade that people have to walk in single file on weekends. When July and August arrive there won't be room for a pin," said the president of the ACEB, Rosa González, refusing to "turn a blind eye" to this problem. In addition, she complained that tourists often buy from street vendors instead of from licenced shops.
ACEB has also called for an information campaign focused on visitors, with posters and leaflets to be distributed in hotels or even on planes, even before the tourist arrives at the destination.
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