About 22 miles southwest of Barcelona, Spain, lies the idyllic coastal city of Sitges. Famous for the Sitges Film Festival, Carnival celebrations, and beautiful beaches, Sitges is often called the Saint-Tropez of Spain. The economy of Sitges is dependent on tourism with more than half of the hotels all ranked 4 stars or higher. Nearly all of the 17 glorious beaches in Sitges have been awarded Blue Flags by the European Union. This means that the Foundation for Environmental Education has certified that a beach, marina, or tourism boating agency meets the highest standards of environmental and safety concerns.

As Sitges enters its peak tourism months, authorities are fearful that COVID-19 infection rates will also rise. With the spread of the Delta variant, many communities in the Catalonia region of Spain have seen an increase in COVID cases. Businesses have had to shut down, and curfews have been imposed to curb the spread of the virus. In Sitges, authorities have to find a way to balance the need for tourism to support the economy while still keeping people safe. To do that, a team of drone operators has been contracted to monitor beaches in Sitges.

Ricardo Monje is one of the drone operators from the company Annunzia who will be carrying out the drone trial that will run through August 22, 2021. The drones will be tethered to a power supply over the beaches. As drones typically have a short battery life, this is an ideal solution. With a continuous power source, the drones can easily transmit data to the operators, and thus authorities. “It’s a pioneering system,” Ricardo said. “We can take photos, pass them through some software and with the software we can count how many people are on the beach.”

With beach population counts, authorities can better control overcrowding. Currently, there are only supposed to be so many people allowed on each beach. Though beaches are generally deemed safe since they are outdoors, crowds tend to congregate in ways that can easily cause spikes in COVID-19 cases. When people see the drones on the beaches, they are instantly reminded that COVID is not gone. Social distancing is still mandatory, even when outdoors.

The hope, Ricardo explained, is that the drones will serve as a reminder to people that they need to maintain social distancing and that there are restrictions as to how many people can visit the beaches at a time. Guillem Escola, a local representative from the Sitges Town Hall, is helping to orchestrate the safe integration of drones in this project. Guillem has made it clear that the drones will always be at a safe distance from people, and that all images collected will remain anonymous to comply with data protection laws.

For Guillem, using drones is a safe and peaceful way to monitor the beaches without overly disrupting tourism. “If we see the beach is very crowded we can pass that information on to the beach monitors who will make checks and ensure people are keeping their distance,” Guillem said. “If people don’t take notice, then we send in the police.” Furthermore, using technology like drones to keep beaches safe aligns with the requirements of a Blue Flag Beach. Drones can monitor without causing any environmental damages. So far it seems that the Sitges beach drone trial is working well to keep tourism alive while protecting people from COVID-19.