By Erica Carter

Copyright rsvplive

Spain plans to roll out a major new ban in bars, beaches and more very soon.

A bill was introduced on Tuesday to ban smoking at outdoor venues including beaches, bar and restaurant terraces, bus stops and stadiums. The ban would also apply to vapes or e-cigarettes.

“We’ll always put public health ahead of private interests,” Health Minister Monica Garcia told reporters yesterday, Reuters has reported. “Everyone has a right to breathe clean air and live longer and better lives.”

Indoor smoking has been banned since 2011, while a number of beaches across Spain have already banned smoking.

L’Albir Beach in Alicante, between Benidorm and Altea, banned smoking across the entire beach back in March.

If introduced, it would follow in the footsteps of France who implemented an outdoor smoking ban earlier this year.

The smoking ban includes beaches, parks and bus stops, and only bans cigarettes, as vapes are still permitted. Anyone caught breaking the rules can be fined €135.

It comes as a video highlighting curfew rules in Barcelona recently went viral – as she pointed out tourists could be hit with a €500 on the spot fine.

A British woman living in Barcelona, known on TikTok as Jet Set Gypsea, has issued a warning about a new law: “There is a new law in Barcelona that you must know about if you’re coming here this summer. If you make any loud noise in the street in central Barcelona after 11pm and before 7am you can get fined 500 euros on the spot.

“They can also escort you back to a hotel and the hotel then has every right to cancel your stay and not give you a refund. This is also the case if you are caught urinating in the street, but this is at any time, this isn’t just at night.”

The video sparked comments with one person saying, “And so they should. I can’t imagine how annoying the tourism must be out there.” While another added: “It’s just common sense. Our cities are not theme parks for tourists to act in ways that they wouldn’t act like at home, we expect common sense, decency and to be able to rest.”

Fines for excessive noise, particularly during the early hours, can escalate up to €3,000. The council has stated that causing a disturbance by making noise or behaving in a manner that disrupts local residents could result in a fine, as could disrupting the tranquillity of local residents or pedestrians by singing, shouting, arguing or any other nuisance behaviour.