Salou may no longer be a destination for sports tours across the UK after the city’s council withdrew its backing of Saloufest last week. Councillors say in order to “stop harming” the image of the city, which they hope to preserve as a picturesque tourist resort, action must be taken.
The scale of damage to this image, bosses claim in a statement on the council’s website, has worsened since last year, and came to a head last Thursday after a young woman participating in the event was involved in an accident at Salou’s Hotel Jaume I.
Whether Saloufest is to be pulled remains speculative, however, as the city’s mayor has openly supported the popular get-away in the past.
Tour, for those who aren’t familiar, is a week-long break for university sports teams, usually held just before exam term begins. The British company behind the retreats, ‘ILoveTour’, advertise an array of European party resorts for students at competitive prices.
In 2010, ILoveTour was given permission to use Salou, and since then, over 10,000 students have opted for the exotic city, one that advertises itself as “the beach of Europe”. Following a dramatic surge in young holidaymakers, new bylaws were passed by the city council to prohibit public indecency and street boozing. Five years on and it seems the locals have once again been stretched to their limits.
Tour-goers from the University of Essex, who were transported back to the UK by coach just 24 hours ago, believe otherwise. Men’s Football Social Secretary Nehemiah Adegbile said: “We were just trying to have fun.
“It’s expected that students are going to want to have a good time. Whenever we spoke to local shopkeepers they all seemed really happy for us to be there.”
Salou beach is said to be “one of the best” in Europe
After the first wave of students returned on Sunday claiming to have had a “brilliant time”, others have raised their concerns at the potential removal of the Spanish resort from traditional tour locations. Founder and President of the Essex Blades Mixed Rounders Club, Olivia Grant, was among the first to hit Salou’s exotic sands in late March.
She said: “To be honest, I can understand why [they’ve pulled support]! Salou this year was so messy it must be a real pain for people who actually live there.
“This year I saw more children and everyone was just off their faces, so it doesn’t set a good example.”
Coastal Salou remains home to twenty-six thousand people, most of which are peaceful Catalonian residents.
The Students’ Union’s current VP for Student Activities, Luke Bowdery, returned from his hat-trick (third) tour in the early hours of Monday morning, this time working alongside ILoveTour management as a staff member. Upon hearing the news, he said:
“It was a bit different this time. In my experience I had the best times in Salou, don’t get me wrong. But I completely understand the city council’s decision to withdraw funding from Saloufest.
“When students go out, it becomes quite chaotic and students feel they are obliged to do anything they want, just because they are abroad on tour.”
While organising the festival’s activities, Luke spoke to Vicki Cockman, General Manager of ILoveTour, who said that this year saw a record number of hotel damages across the resort. She said the company are unaware as to why students were trashing the hotels. In his role as Sabbatical Officer, Luke’s opinion of the event has changed slightly:
“Looking at this as a student, I would feel a bit shocked as to why they would potentially pull Salou from the tour list. As a staff member and a Sabb representing sport, I completely understand.
“I don’t feel like these sports tours ever shed any positive light on the universities, and due to the demand of students going on tour increasing, I don’t think ILoveTour have been able to cope,” he added.
Credit: Getty | British students dress up during the first night of Saloufest, Spain
Sports teams, however, tend to disagree. Women’s Football President Emily Walker argues that ‘tour’ places Salou among the top party locations for students, following the reputations of Magaluf in Mallorca and Ibiza. She said:
“I think it would be irrational for Salou to pull away from Saloufest and ILoveTour after such a long lasting relationship with them. For me, I wouldn’t have even known where Salou was if it wasn’t for the reputation that Tour has, and I haven’t known anyone to visit that hasn’t been a student.
“Businesses make millions of pounds over such a short duration of time, and they probably encourage this drunken behaviour from Brits in order for them to make such a profit. Students get penalised a lot by the media during Tour for their behaviour, and whilst occasional outrageous things do happen it is unfair to generalise that all students behave this way,” she continued.
They need to lay off students a little bit and let us have some fun,” she added.
Salou council are currently in negotiations with tour companies and will reach their verdict in the coming weeks.
ILoveTour
So long, Saloufest? | The Rabbit Newspaper
Salou may no longer be a destination for sports tours across the UK after the city’s council withdrew its backing of Saloufest last week. Councillors say in order to “stop harming” the image of the city, which they hope to preserve as a picturesque tourist resort, action must be taken.
The scale of damage to this image, bosses claim in a statement on the council’s website, has worsened since last year, and came to a head last Thursday after a young woman participating in the event was involved in an accident at Salou’s Hotel Jaume I.
Whether Saloufest is to be pulled remains speculative, however, as the city’s mayor has openly supported the popular get-away in the past.
Tour, for those who aren’t familiar, is a week-long break for university sports teams, usually held just before exam term begins. The British company behind the retreats, ‘ILoveTour’, advertise an array of European party resorts for students at competitive prices.
In 2010, ILoveTour was given permission to use Salou, and since then, over 10,000 students have opted for the exotic city, one that advertises itself as “the beach of Europe”. Following a dramatic surge in young holidaymakers, new bylaws were passed by the city council to prohibit public indecency and street boozing. Five years on and it seems the locals have once again been stretched to their limits.
Tour-goers from the University of Essex, who were transported back to the UK by coach just 24 hours ago, believe otherwise. Men’s Football Social Secretary Nehemiah Adegbile said: “We were just trying to have fun.
“It’s expected that students are going to want to have a good time. Whenever we spoke to local shopkeepers they all seemed really happy for us to be there.”
Salou beach is said to be “one of the best” in Europe
After the first wave of students returned on Sunday claiming to have had a “brilliant time”, others have raised their concerns at the potential removal of the Spanish resort from traditional tour locations. Founder and President of the Essex Blades Mixed Rounders Club, Olivia Grant, was among the first to hit Salou’s exotic sands in late March.
She said: “To be honest, I can understand why [they’ve pulled support]! Salou this year was so messy it must be a real pain for people who actually live there.
“This year I saw more children and everyone was just off their faces, so it doesn’t set a good example.”
Coastal Salou remains home to twenty-six thousand people, most of which are peaceful Catalonian residents.
The Students’ Union’s current VP for Student Activities, Luke Bowdery, returned from his hat-trick (third) tour in the early hours of Monday morning, this time working alongside ILoveTour management as a staff member. Upon hearing the news, he said:
“It was a bit different this time. In my experience I had the best times in Salou, don’t get me wrong. But I completely understand the city council’s decision to withdraw funding from Saloufest.
“When students go out, it becomes quite chaotic and students feel they are obliged to do anything they want, just because they are abroad on tour.”
While organising the festival’s activities, Luke spoke to Vicki Cockman, General Manager of ILoveTour, who said that this year saw a record number of hotel damages across the resort. She said the company are unaware as to why students were trashing the hotels. In his role as Sabbatical Officer, Luke’s opinion of the event has changed slightly:
“Looking at this as a student, I would feel a bit shocked as to why they would potentially pull Salou from the tour list. As a staff member and a Sabb representing sport, I completely understand.
“I don’t feel like these sports tours ever shed any positive light on the universities, and due to the demand of students going on tour increasing, I don’t think ILoveTour have been able to cope,” he added.
Credit: Getty | British students dress up during the first night of Saloufest, Spain
Sports teams, however, tend to disagree. Women’s Football President Emily Walker argues that ‘tour’ places Salou among the top party locations for students, following the reputations of Magaluf in Mallorca and Ibiza. She said:
“I think it would be irrational for Salou to pull away from Saloufest and ILoveTour after such a long lasting relationship with them. For me, I wouldn’t have even known where Salou was if it wasn’t for the reputation that Tour has, and I haven’t known anyone to visit that hasn’t been a student.
“Businesses make millions of pounds over such a short duration of time, and they probably encourage this drunken behaviour from Brits in order for them to make such a profit. Students get penalised a lot by the media during Tour for their behaviour, and whilst occasional outrageous things do happen it is unfair to generalise that all students behave this way,” she continued.
They need to lay off students a little bit and let us have some fun,” she added.
Salou council are currently in negotiations with tour companies and will reach their verdict in the coming weeks.
ILoveTour