Malaga, Spain is getting ready to let go of one of its tourist traditions: The horse-drawn carriages that carry visitors along the city’s seaside promenade and its streets.
As the city has developed, there has been less and less area where the for-hire carriages can work, and a longer route each morning and evening between the city’s center an distant stables. The city says this, combined with summer heat of up to 45C is too hard on the horses.
City officials voted 10 years ago to end the industry by 2035, but now wants to move that up to this year. Officials have been negotiating with the holders of the last 25 licences. The city’s councilor for mobility told press that “We have been negotiating for a long time, we have met 99 percent of the demands of carriage owners.”
While it will mean the end for the tourist rides, carriages would still be permitted for festivals and traditional events like Malaga’s annual August fair.
Image: Karl Oppolzer/Wikimedia Commons
