SPAIN – Tourism chiefs in the Balearic Islands could ban cars from the smaller islands during the summer months as the region braces for a record number of visitors.

The islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, which have a population of 1.1 million, are expecting 13.5 million visitors this year. Officials in Ibiza and Formentera say they may have to stop tourists arriving in cars to avoid gridlock, following the example of the Italian resort island of Capri. In peak season there are as many as 20,000 cars on Formentera, which is 19km long.

Last year 65 million people visited Spain, 20 million more than the number of inhabitants. Numbers are already up on 2015 as terrorist attacks in Tunisia and Egypt have driven tourists back to European destinations. Traffic jams are not the only problem.(theguardian)…[+]