Our beloved Spanish prime minister has realeased millions of euros in cash to help local authorities better handle the recession, Nerja received quite a lump yet seems intent on spending the money on revamping the Plazas in town instead of creating sustainable employment that is also good for Nerja.
On a walk around town this afternoon it is worrying that there are so many empty shops, almost a dozen on Diputacion and El Barrio alone. High rents are undoubtedly one reason, the old Slante bar which has been empty for a while is on the market at 1800 euro a month and Findlays the corners rent was 2500 a month.
Nerja has rested on it’s laurels somewhat over the last 5 or 6 years and even the Spanish are complaining about unemployment and the town hall’s inability to create jobs. Unempolyment is currently just under 25% in Andalucia while the national figure is 18%
One Spanish website has a sort of complaints page where the public can have a bit if a moan and recent comments read something like this “what does Nerja offer the tourist apart from the beach”
There also lots of complaints about the town becoming less attractive with dog poo and grafiti topping the list

There isn’t an easy solution to the recession or a way to bring more tourists to Nerja but maybe the townhall could improve the image of Nerja and create some jobs at the same time by cleaning the streets of grafiti and fly posters and also translating the information that is currently only in Spanish.
Translate into the languages of the bulk of the visitors to Nerja. English, German, Dutch, and French maybe?
Another job could be to schedule and produce events calendars for the fiestas and Feria in town and make then available well in advance.
The posters for the Nerja Carnaval hit the streets last week but the schedule was not availble until last Friday. If you vist the townhall website, which happens to be available in English this is what it says for Carnaval and I quote  “FEBRUARY Three wonderful days full of colour with Chirigotas
(popular songs) and the great street parade.”
Nerja we love you but get a grip.

One Response to “Nerja and the recession and stuff”