Post office puts its stamp on tourists

Last year over 500'000 cards and letters sent by tourists were withdrawn by the post office for failing to have the correct stamps. The chairman of the Correos y Telégrafos (Spanish post office) Alberto Núñez Feijóo, yesterday announced that campaigns are to be launched in the United Kingdom and Germany to inform potential visitors about the postal services available. The failure by tourists, often unknowingly, to use the correct stamps cost the post office around 6 million euros (1.000 million pesetas) last year and also slowed down the post service. The post office will be making it clear that unless cards or envelopes are stamped with Spanish post office stamps, the Correos y Telégrafos post boxes must not be used and the mail either left with hotel receptions or returned to shops where purchased for posting. The bulk of the half a million cards and letters were posted in the Balearics and the Canaries where a number of independent mailing services have been closed down by the authorities.