A GENTLE stroll from the golden sands of Spain’s Costa Blanca, the plush, four-star Hotel ParqueMar has long been a favourite of British sun-seekers.
Shaded from the Mediterranean heat by towering pines, one UK guest described the 58-room resort as “lovely”.
Louis WoodMigrants wait to learn their fate from Spanish government[/caption]
Louis WoodSun Man Oliver with migrant Ngalla Ndir on Guardamar del Segura beach[/caption]
But now, as Spain struggles with its own small boats crisis, the ParqueMar and other prime tourist lodgings are being used to house newly arrived migrants — many set on continuing to the UK.
It comes as several EU countries, including France, Slovakia, Sweden and Germany, re-introduce border restrictions over fears of uncontrolled migration and terrorism.
For those who have just braved one of the world’s most treacherous routes from west Africa, the ParqueMar provides comfort and security.
Yet according to one recent British guest, holidaymakers have been hit by the switch from tourist hotel to migrant accommodation.
Retired Robert Jamison claimed he and wife Maxine, both 68, were “kicked out” of the ParqueMar six nights into a two-week break last month to make way for the new arrivals.
The ex-Ministry of Defence worker said they weren’t told the refugees would be arriving during their stay and that their holiday was “ruined”.
And he alleged they were left to rent a private apartment when the ParqueMar failed to make alternative arrangements.
The hotel sent Robert a message through Booking.com on October 30 telling him they “regretted the decision” to ask the couple to leave — but that it was “an order of the state”.
‘Strain on services’
Robert, from Finedon, Northants, said: “There was no plan for where paying guests could go, no suggestions of other hotels which might have spaces. Nothing. We were just told to leave.”
Booking.com later refunded the couple for the days remaining on their stay.
The ParqueMar said it liaised with guests at the hotel — which has committed to housing refugees until December 31 — when the first of 231 migrants arrived.
A spokesman insisted they helped source alternative accommodation for tourists and that some who left said it was through “fear” — despite the migrants being “totally harmless”.
A spokesman for Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said it was “categorically false” that tourists had been “expelled” from hotels.
The migrants staying at the venue in pleasant Guardamar del Segura, 24 miles down the coast from Alicante, are all male and mostly Senegalese, with a smattering of others from The Gambia and Morocco.
Some are fleeing political unrest and violence, others grinding poverty.
Weary after his perilous journey, Ngalla Ndir, 41, stared wistfully out to sea from the beach.
The dad of two, from Senegal, told me: “I was a fisherman back home, but the fish stocks have run low. I can’t make a living any more. I want to get a job here in Spain.”
Others, mostly English speakers from former British colony The Gambia, want a new life in the UK.
Gambian Omar Soee, 36, a small businessman, said: “I would like to join my friend in Liverpool. I tried to get a UK student visa.”
And Ibrahim Umbye, 16, told me: “When I go to Holland, France, Germany or England, I want to be a driver.
“I left Gambia as there were no jobs. I’m here to help my family.”
His pal, 19, a Manchester United fan, added: “My dream is Britain.”
Another Gambian shows me videos of their Atlantic voyage by traditional wooden boats — known as cayucos — from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
The ramshackle vessels are frequently wrecked or are blown off course amid the Atlantic breakers.
One charity estimates 778 perished on the route in the first half of this year.
Eyes wide, Usman Ngia, 17, said: “We were on the waves for five days, surviving on just water and biscuits, with over 100 people on the boat. We were in God’s hands.”
Fresh from the terrifying journey, the young men are brimming with enthusiasm for the future as they wait for the Spanish government to decide if they can remain.
They spend their time either beside the beach or in the shade of pine trees in a park next to the hotel.
John Beeston, 60, and wife Lynne, 59, from Ellesmere, Shrops, in Spain to dog-sit for friends, strolled near the ParqueMar in the 23C winter sun.
Retired maths teacher John said: “This is a small place and 231 extra people will likely be a strain on local medical services.”
The ParqueMar says it charges £32 a day including VAT for each migrant’s bed and full board — so isn’t “making money”.
Louis WoodFour-star Hotel ParqueMar is being used to house newly arrived migrants[/caption]
Meanwhile, on the Canary Islands, Gambian youngsters are part of the biggest ever migration surge there.
Spain has sent surveillance drones, a helicopter, four boats and some 40 police to Senegal to help authorities crack down on smuggling networks.
But this year more than 32,000 have made the perilous journey, surpassing the previous record last weekend and overwhelming reception centres on the islands.
A picture last month showed a cayuco carrying 120 migrants arriving in Los Cristianos in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, as tourists swam nearby.
In a mirror of Britain’s small boats crisis, the Spanish government is scrambling to find accommodation for thousands of new arrivals in hotels and former military barracks on the mainland.
Most — just under 10,000 — are being housed in the tourist hotspot of Andalucia in the south.
Guardamar del Segura’s socialist mayor Jose Luis Saez told The Sun that nine migrants have already left the ParqueMar with “freedom of movement”.
He said: “We haven’t had any problems with the migrants. The situation is one of total tranquillity.”
‘Collaborating with mafias’
Back on the mainland, some 150 miles from the ParqueMar, Hotel Alegria Cabo de Gata — promising “sun, fun and comfort” — has also been requisitioned for migrants.
Refugees, who hang their washing from balconies overlooking the swimming pool, began arriving on October 24.
Local Press say 433 were housed at the four-star, 212-room hotel at Retamar, near Almeria, with another 54 in a Red Cross centre.
Rafael Hernando, a right-wing MP representing Almeria Province in the Spanish Parliament, said he had been monitoring the comings and goings.
The ex-Parliamentary spokesman for the People’s Party, 61, revealed: “The migrants all arrived with their mobile telephones and many with connections.
“The following day they abandoned the hotel. I found some on the road out of town.
“The mafias often use Spain as a transit country then disperse them northwards to countries like Britain, Germany or France, based on the origin of the immigrants and the language they speak.
“When I say they are collaborating with the mafias, it’s because these people pay fares of up to $8,000 (around £6,500). They don’t come here for free.”
Explaining the smugglers’ methods, he added: “The migrants are transported using a mother ship which tows the cayucos until they get near the coast.
“The main victims of trafficking are the migrants themselves who, when they reach the Spanish mainland, fall into the hands of criminals and mafia organisations.
“Outside the hotel in Almeria I saw some of these people waiting to gain the confidence of the migrants to exploit them for criminal purposes. There was no police.”
A 30-minute drive west, in the port of Aguadulce, 200 African migrants went to the Portomagno Hotel on October 25.
The sea view lodgings claim to offer “an especially relaxing stay” with a “Mediterranean location”.
With little to occupy their time, many of the migrants lounge on the promenade overlooking the beach.
A retired Yorkshire couple pass by. Declining to be named, the woman, in her 50s, said: “With so many young men all together, I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming here on my own.”
Watching yachts bobbing on the waves, Gambian Jallow Balla, 25, told me: “I’m a poor man. I have nothing. I came here to change my life.”
This most powerful of pulls — despite the risk of a lingering death — is why they keep on coming.
Additional reporting: Gerard Couzens
Louis WoodIbrahim, 16, fled Gambia so he can work to help family[/caption]
Hotel ParqueMar sent a tourist a message through Booking.com telling him they ‘regretted the decision’ to ask the couple to leave
THIS map illustrates how border checks across Europe’s supposedly passport-free Schengen area have been reinstated to help combat uncontrolled migration.
Crackdowns have been going on across vast swathes of the continent.
They come as European nations battle people traffickers – along with fears surrounding the possibility of terror and security threats.
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